A Place to Hide Away
by LeioRossi
Summary: Stiles gets turned into a werefox child with no memory of anything beyond the age of five (and a half, thank you very much). So when he smells the scent of home and security, naturally he follows it and finds himself face to face (or rather face to knee) with a scowling man (with pretty eyes).
1. Pretty Eyed Stranger

One would think that after spending his entire life surrounded by supernatural creatures, he would get used to surprises but of course, there was always something around the corner, or in his case, on his front door step. Derek's eyes widened minimally as he stared at the little boy in front of him who had his eyes closed and was taking a long sniff. The scent was unmistakable. __Stiles.__

"Why do you smell so good?"

In front of him was a miniature Stiles that had fox ears protruding from his mess of short curly hair and a fox tail behind him. His eyes were a shining gold and he was frowning as he breathed in.

"Stiles?" Derek took a step back and Stiles followed him almost desperately, crossing over the threshold and latched onto Derek's legs.

"Don't leave me!" the boy whimpered, his fox ears lowering as he buried his head in Derek's legs. "I don't know where I am and I have fox ears and a tail and I can't find my dad. I don't like being alone and you smell like home. And I know you can protect me. Please, Alpha." There were tears now rimming the bottom of Stiles' eyes.

Derek couldn't help the protective urge that rose in him when he heard the word 'Alpha' slip past Stiles' lips and the tears in his eyes.

"Stiles, I'm not going to leave." Derek managed to get mini Stiles to let go of his legs so he could crouch down next the young boy whose lip was trembling in an attempt not to cry. The second Derek was at his level, the young werefox shot himself into Derek's arms and buried his nose into Derek's neck, breathing him in. Derek's wolf rumbled happily as he scented him.

"Stiles, what's the last thing you remember?" Derek pulled back, placing a hand on Stiles' neck.

"I...I was at Scott's house." Stiles replied timidly, averting his eyes from Derek's gaze. "He's my best friend, by the way. It was his birthday. He's turning six."

"So you're how old?"

"Five." Stiles said proudly, holding up five fingers. "And a half."

"And do you have any idea how you turned into a werefox?"

"Uh... no, sorry."

"It's okay." Derek moved to stand up but Stiles grabbed his jacket.

"You smell really good like Mommy and Daddy and Lydia, but even better." Stiles turned his gaze so that their gazes would meet. "Who are you?"

"My name is Derek."

"Are you my wife?"

Derek snorted and picked Stiles up which made the young fox yelp and tighten his grip around Derek's neck.

"No, we're friends." Derek replied as he took out his phone from his back pocket and speed dialed Dr. Deaton, trying to ignore Stiles who was rubbing his cheek against Derek's neck and wrapping his tail around his arm.

"You smell like mine." Stiles let out a low purr and Derek was saved from responding when Deaton picked up on the third ring.

"Hello, Derek."

Derek cut to the chase and rushed out, "Stiles is in my house and he had fox ears and a tail and he's a child. I need you to come over."

"As much as I would love to, I'm a five hour drive away from Beacon Hills and I won't be returning until Friday. If you could take care of him, I'll take him off your hands when I come back. In the meanwhile, I'll research on the different possibilities of what could've happened.

"But-"

"Goodbye, Derek."

Deaton hanged up and Derek growled angrily as he threw his phone onto the couch. It was then that he noticed that Stiles had stopped rubbing him and was simply laying there with his chin on Derek's shoulder.

"Hey, Stiles, are you hungry?"

"Sure." Stiles said and Derek smelled the sadness coming off of him and it made him instantly worry, but he didn't know how to ask little Stiles what was wrong so he wandered into the kitchen with Stiles in his arms.

"What would you like to eat?"

"I'm not very hungry. Can we watch some TV?" Stiles said, turning to meet Derek's eyes. Derek gave him a side glance and nodded, turning around and heading back to the living room and turned the TV on to Spongebob Squarepants which instantly captured Stiles' attention. He set Stiles on the couch and the little boy drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on arms, his eyes thankfully glued onto the screen.

Derek took out his phone out and sent a group message to the pack and to Stiles' dad.

 _ _There's been an incident with Stiles. I need you to come to my house.__

 _ _-Derek Hale__

Satisfied with his text, he pocketed his phone and sat down next to Stiles who quickly turned his head back to the TV as if he hadn't been staring at Derek the whole time.

"You have pretty eyes." Stiles said. His fox ears twitched towards Derek nervously, and the older werewolf found himself at a loss for words. How was he supposed to reply to that?

"Um... thanks?"

Stiles was interrupted by the front door slamming open and Erica and Boyd rushing in to the room with worried eyes, which made Stiles scream and launch himself into Derek's arms.

"Alpha!" Stiles buried his face in Derek's chest, his red tail wrapping itself around Derek's stomach underneath the leather jacket. The alpha responded instinctively and wrapped his arms around the young fox, his face shifting into beta mode as he growled at his two betas. Both of their eyes widened but they tilted their necks in submission. Derek's alpha was placated by this gesture and he turned to the young cub in his arms.

"Stiles, it's okay. These are two of my betas, Erica and Boyd. They are friends." Derek murmured. The scent of relief and embarrassment suddenly permeated the air and Stiles peeked behind his shoulder, his face a bright red.

"Is that Stiles?" Erica asked in shock.

"I'm right here." Stiles said annoyed at being referred to in third person, his fox tail loosening its grip on Derek's stomach.

"Oh my god, you're so cute." Erica laughed as she reached for him and Stiles ears raised at the attention and he let go of Derek for her to pick him up. She cooed at him and he preened at the attention, which made Derek's wolf uncomfortable. He turned to Boyd only to find him looking at Stiles with the same affectionate gaze.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Scott rushed in, panting and his eyes zoomed in on the little werefox in Erica's arms. "Stiles?"

The young boy seemed to recognize his friend and he wiggled out of Erica's arms and ran to Scott. The beta werewolf kneeled down in shock and opened his arms, and Stiles threw his arms around Scott and nuzzled his cheek, gently biting it. Scott blinked in surprise, but Stiles was oblivious.

"Scott!" Stiles laughed, leaning back to look at his best friend. "Why do you look so old? You look like those teenagers that go to high school. And you have a mini mustache. How old are you? Are you from the future?"

Erica snorted at Stiles' observation that Scott hadn't shaved yet.

"Actually, I think you're from the past, Stiles." Scott said as he hoisted Stiles up.

It was at this moment that the rest of the people came in. Allison was with Lydia and Jackson and Isaac came in with the sheriff who looked worried until his eyes landed on Stiles.

"Dad!" Stiles wiggled out of Scott's arms and he ran to John who had a similar reaction to Scott's. He opened his arms as he kneeled down to embrace the young boy. His eyes met Derek's and he looked both worried and angry, but he still hugged his son tight who returned it gladly.

"Stiles?"

"Dad, look! I have fox ears like the one we saw in the woods! You remember, the one we saw after we went to McDonalds and you thought you saw a dog? Oh, and I have a tail!" Stiles pushed his dad away and reached for his tail but it seemed to escape him and he ended up going in circles trying to catch his tail which made all of them melt. Allison and Erica took out their phone taking pictures, while cooing. The young werefox tired himself out and fell to the floor with a huff, panting.

"I'm tired." Stiles yawned and stood up and walked over to Derek, jumping into his lap and the older boy reacted instinctively by wrapping an arm around him to make sure he wouldn't fall to the ground. Stiles smiled and curled into himself as he snuggled into the broody werewolf's stomach. Derek scowled at all the people who looked amused at Stiles' action except the sheriff who looked suspicious and crossed his arm.

"Okay, someone needs to tell me what's going on." Jackson said and everyone looked to Derek with raised eyebrows.

"First of all, it's not my fault."

* * *

 **Please comment if you liked it! Thank you!**


	2. Meeting of Wife and Husband

"Derek, for god's sake, you made it sound like Stiles was dying." Erica frowned and the others agreed with her, nodding their heads. Derek shrugged helplessly and placed a hand on Stiles' head where it laid on his lap. The pack moved to sit down. Scott and Allison sat to Derek's right and Isaac at Derek's left. The rest of the pack sat down on the other couch and Stiles' dad sat in the armchair.

"I didn't see a problem with it. I didn't want to scare all of you with 'Stiles is a five year old and a werefox. Come over.'" Derek raised his eyebrows at Erica.

"Would've been a lot better than 'an incident.'" Lydia said, raising her eyebrow.

"That doesn't matter anymore. Why was Stiles turned into a child?" John asked, crossing his arms even though he had a fond look in his eye as he looked at the young boy slumbering in Derek's lap.

"I don't know. He was on my front door step asking me why I smelled good and that he didn't know where he was. The last thing he remembers is Scott's sixth birthday." Derek shifted back against the couch and Stiles' ears twitched in annoyance.

"He's tiny. He must be like four or five." Scott said with a frown.

"Five and a half." Derek said automatically. The others turned to him strangely and he looked down. "He told me when he came in."

"So you don't know why he was turned into a kid. Do you at least know why or how he was turned into a werefox?" the sheriff asked, leaning forward onto the edge of his seat.

"No. I called Deaton, but he's out of town."

"Yeah, he's going to some conference where they'll be selling some rare ingredients or whatever." Scott put in. "He won't be back until like Friday or next Saturday."

"So we're stuck with a mini-Stiles for practically a week?" Jackson groaned and Lydia elbowed him in the side. " I mean, come on, he's okay as a teenager, but as a kid, he was annoying as heck."

"Watch it. You're talking about my son." John warned and the werewolf sighed and rolled his eyes. Derek growled warningly at the beta. 

"Well, we can look around and see if there's anything suspicious around town. Lydia, you can look up and see if there's anything about age regression spells and about werefoxes." Allison turned to Derek who nodded his head at the plan. This wouldn't be the first time they targeted Stiles simply because he looked like the weakest link. He definitely wasn't, but he could certainly act like it.

"Erica and I can look around Stiles' neighborhood and anywhere he was this week." Boyd said, holding Erica's hand and she nodded.

"Scott and I will cover the school." Allison threw in.

"I can help with school too." Isaac chimed in, smiling at Scott who returned with a grin.

"Look, that's great and all, but who's going to take care of Stiles while we're all running around looking for what made him small?" Jackson said snarkily.

"I will." John and Derek said at the same time, and they turned to each other frowning. The tension that had been slowly rising between the alpha and the sheriff suddenly peaked and everyone looked in worry between the two.

"You have to work. You don't have time to take care of Stiles." Derek said logically, as his hands found themselves on Stiles' head, stroking his fox ears and hair, subtly intermingling his scent with Stiles'. The boy smiled in his sleep, leaning into the hands with a low purr.

"I can take leave. Don't try to pull that on me. There's no way in the world that I'm letting my five year old son with you." John readily said back, his eyes zeroing in on where Derek was touching his son. The worry coming off of him was suffocating to the rest of the werewolves.

"Are you saying I can't take care of him?" Derek's eyes flashed red at the insinuation that he couldn't take care of his mate. He could take care of Stiles no matter what age he was.

"I'm saying I'm his father and he needs to be with someone he knows. He's _five_." John stressed and he stood up angrily to tower over Derek who had to fight the urge to launch himself at the man in front of him who was challenging his authority.

"He'd be better off with me. I know how to deal with weres." Derek said, knowing the sheriff couldn't argue with that. John's face turned red in anger.

"Now see here, you-"

"Whoa, let's back it up a bit and take a breath. We don't want to wake Stiles." Scott stood up and pushed the sheriff back gently and motioned to Stiles who had shifted in Derek's lap to lay on his back. John glared at Derek who returned the heated gaze.

"We can all take turns taking care of him, guys. We exist and care about him too." Lydia said, waving a hand. "And if we're talking about where he'll sleep, he should sleep in Derek's house because there's more of us to protect him just in case he was turned into a kid to make a vulnerability in the pack." Derek's wolf growled at the idea of someone wanting to hurt his mate and tightened his grip minutely on Stiles.

The sheriff looked uncomfortable and he looked around for a second before turning to Derek.

"If anything happens to him, I swear I will go to Chris Argent and get myself a bullet that will kill you."

"Wait a second!" Scott suddenly stood up with a hand in his hair. Everyone shushed him, glaring at him and he winced before lowering his voice. "Guys, he doesn't know."

"Doesn't know what?" Isaac asked, frowning.

"His mom." Scott said softly.

Everyone in the room froze.

"It was a few days after my sixth birthday that his mom told him she was sick. I had forgotten until now." Scott said sheepily. Lydia made a noise and everyone turned to her with lifted eyebrows.

"It's just that I was looking at some of the spell books Deaton has in his library and one of them said that most of the times spells would differ in effect with personality. I'm willing to bet that's why he was turned into a five years old instead of another age. Whatever spell he was put under, it was probably connected to... that event in his life." Lydia said and took out her phone to put it in her notes.

"But why would someone do a spell like that?" Erica asked, confused.

"That's when he started growing up." John said almost to himself and everyone could feel the grief coming off of him and he sat back down in the armchair. "I... I started drinking a lot during that time to cope with Claudia's illness and later on her death. Stiles would clean up and make the food when I couldn't. I...I wasn't as good of a father as I should've been. It was around that time that Stiles grew up faster than he should have." The confession was said with rolls of shame coming off of him.

"So right now, he's still...a carefree kid." Isaac said and looked at Stiles. "Before he faced death and before he grew up."

"It would seem so."

"We can't tell him about his mom." Derek said and everyone turned to him in surprise. He had his gaze on Stiles as he brushed a strand of hair out of Stiles' face, letting his finger longer than required.

"We have to. He has the right to know, and he's going to ask eventually, Derek. We can't keep it from him."

"He's five." Derek argued with a scowl. "How can we tell him his mom died? It would tear him apart, and if we can find a way to reverse this spell, then we would have put him through that pain for nothing." Nobody dared to voice a counterargument but just as John was about to say something Stiles chose this moment to yawn. Sleepy golden eyes slowly opened and he blinked up blearily at Derek. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and leaned up to sleepily nuzzle Derek underneath his chin. Then he stretched his arms up, narrowly missing Derek's face before suddenly getting to his feet and smiling widely at his dad, going from sleepy to energetic in seconds.

"I'm bored." He said to Derek and everyone laughed fondly. Stiles seemed to suddenly realize they were there and his eyes skimmed over them curiously before his eyes zoomed in on Jackson who was sneering at the young werefox.

"Hey, you're Jackson Whittmore." Stiles frowned and turned to Derek. "Why is he here? He's a bully." The young werefox moved and before anyone could stop him, Stiles bit Jackson's arm and he let out a pained scream. Everyone stood up in shock as Stiles dashed back to Derek, standing behind him with a triumphant smile.

"Really?!" Jackson snarled at the young boy. Derek flashed his Alpha eyes and Jackson huffed as his skin already began healing itself.

"That's what you get for teasing Scott yesterday, you meanie head." Stiles stuck out his tongue at him from behind Derek. His tail swished happily behind him.

"Stiles, it's not okay to bite people." John reprimanded him harshly. "You need to apologize to Jackson."

"But he was mean to Scott."

"That doesn't give you the right to hurt him."

Stiles frowned but after looking at his dad's stern gaze, winced and looked away with guilty wide eyes and his hands behind his back as his tail stopped happily swishing from side to side. His ears lowered and he whined softly deep in his throat before he slowly walked over to Jackson looking down at his feet.

"I'm sorry for biting you." Stiles mumbled before turning around and stomping away from Jackson. He stood in front of his dad and crossed his arms, his tail was swishing angrily behind him and a frown on his face.

"Thank you for apologizing, Stiles."

"He's still a meanie head though."

"And you're still a brat." Jackson shot back, rubbing the bite size scar he had on his arm now.

Stiles seemed affronted at this insult and after a second of struggling with something to say back, stuck his tongue out. Lydia let out a short laugh as Jackson frowned and was about to get up.

"Don't be so dramatic." Lydia smiled and Stiles' eyes widened when he realized who she was.

"Lydia?" Stiles took a step towards her then paused and turned to Derek who had remained quiet throughout the whole thing. He looked back at Lydia then turned back to the broody werewolf and looked at the ground, putting a hand on his chin as he thought. Everyone knew of Stiles' legendary crush on Lydia but with Derek in the equation it would be interesting to see how this clash of crushes played out. Derek's wolf was shifting restlessly as he saw his mate looking between the two, hoping desperately that Stiles chose him, because he didn't think Lydia would survive if Stiles chose her. Then Stiles' head snapped up with a smile on his face and he ran over eagerly to Derek, almost tripping over his feet and grabbed Derek's hands. He tugged him over to where Lydia was sitting with an amused tiny grin on her face.

"Lydia, I want you to meet my...my husband, Derek. He says he's not my wife so I guess he's my husband which is okay because I know we got married like a month ago and I don't really want another wife since you kept running away." Stiles said proudly, his ears twitched happily between the two.

Everyone couldn't contain themselves and began laughing out loud. The young werefox looked confused as to why everyone was laughing. Scott, Allison, Isaac and Erica's faces were red from how hard they were laughing and even Boyd was letting out a chuckle. Jackson tried to look irritated but couldn't help the smiled breaking through. Derek's face had to be reddest out of them all and he covered his face with his free hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Stiles' husband, Derek." Lydia said trying not to laugh.

"You're invited to our wedding!" Stiles smiled then turned to Scott. "You too. You can be the best man." He looked over to Derek. "That's okay, right?"

Derek couldn't seem to find any words which made all the betas roar even louder.

"Stiles, don't you think you're a little too young to be getting married?" John tried to say.

"I'm already married to Lydia." Stiles shrugged. "And she doesn't smell like Derek smells. Dad, he smells like you when we're watching TV in the living room and Lydia when she dances and Mom when she's cooking. He smells like home." Almost as if to emphasize his point, he turned to Derek and buried his nose in the henley, closing his eyes in pleasure.

"Dad, he smells like mine. We're getting married."

"Absolutely not."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, mini Batman, are we invited to your wedding?" Erica asked once she finally stopped laughing. Stiles looked at her with a suspicious eye and a glance to Derek.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Erica. Your older self and I were friends, and I'm Derek's beta." She said smiling as she leaned down, placing her hands on her knees. Stiles stepped closer and lifted his hands up so that she would pick him up. She complied and pulled him to her chest and he nosed her cheek, scenting her to see if Derek's scent was on her and he seemed satisfied. His eyes brightened and rubbed his cheek against hers.

"Okay, you're invited. But you have to bring presents like money because I don't have a job yet because dad says I have to go to school before I can get a job, but I think that's a lie, because do like people that steal stuff go to school to learn how to steal? Anyway...you are invited." Stiles said and turned his head to the others. "All of you are invited."

"What are we all invited to and who is that?"

Everyone turned to Peter who came through the front door. His blue eyes sparkled with curiosity as he walked right up to Erica and took Stiles from his arms and held him up with his hands underneath Stiles' armpits, something that made the young werefox growl. Peter turned him to the left and right, examining him.

"Let go of me!" Stiles snarled, showing his tiny fangs. The sheriff took a step forward with a hand inching towards his gun.

"Quite the anklebiter." Peter sneered. "Wait a second, is this Stiles? Why is he a tiny fox?"

"I will eat you." Stiles promised darkly, and Peter gave him a smile before leaning closer and breathing in Stiles' scent. He frowned slightly and he stared at Stiles with a questioning gaze. "Stop smelling my like a dog!" Stiles squirmed.

"Definitely Stiles." Derek took him from Peter's hands with a glare. Why did it have to be the creepy uncle that came back to life?

Peter's eyes widened as he saw Derek's protective stance and he tilted his head with a raised eyebrow.

"Really, Derek? You wouldn't even look at him when he was 16, but you're all over him when he's three?"

"I'm five and a half." Stiles frowned looking more and more offended by Peter who just smirked at the indignation coming off the boy. Peter looked like he was going to keep teasing Stiles but then his eyes softened. He took a step towards the young werefox who leaned into Derek's arms as he glared suspiciously at the blue eyed man.

"Well, since you're obviously very mature, how would you like to help me make a peanut butter and honey sandwich in the kitchen?" He said tilting his head towards the kitchen.

Stiles' eyes widened then he frowned and crossed his arms.

"Who told you?" Stiles looked conflicted as he looked between Peter and Derek. The alpha was left wondering how his loyalties could so easily shift with the mention of a sandwich. Scott and Lydia seemed to know what was going on and began to chuckle.

"I can read minds." Peter replied and Stiles huffed and slid out of Derek's arms and walked to the other man, lifting his arms defiantly. Derek turned to the the group of teenagers behind him that looked equally stunned, save for the Scott and Lydia. Peter chuckled as he picked the little werefox up and took him to the kitchen. The sheriff followed them with a distrusting look on his face. Derek would've followed them also had it not been for the look his uncle had on his face. Peter hadn't had that gentle expression since his son died in the fire.

"What was that?" Derek almost growled turning around to the duo who had smiled earlier, Scott and Lydia.

"Stiles has a weakness for peanut butter and honey sandwiches. He's loved them forever." Scott shrugged helplessly.

" _That's_ why his room always smells like peanut butter and honey." Erica said thoughtfully.

"And his locker." Boyd added.

"His locker?" Lydia blanched, grimacing.

All the werewolves nodded. Then they heard a high pitched whine come from the kitchen and everyone turned in alarm, only to see a blur of red zoom past them and to Derek. The sheriff came around the corner with a huff as the little fox pawed at Derek's legs, begging to be picked up. Derek quickly picked him up, trying not to drop him as the little werefox squirmed in his arms.

"Stiles, we can buy more peanut butter at the store. It's not a big deal." John sighed.

The little fox whined and Derek ran his hand over his fur, trying to calm him down. Stiles tucked his tail around himself and nosed along Derek's neck, with a low whine in his throat.

"He's so adorable." Erica laughed softly. Derek shot her a glare as he tried to figure out how to calm Stiles down enough to change back to a human. Peter walked back into the room with Stiles' clothes in his arms.

"Stiles, shift back. We can't take you to the store as a fox, and if you don't come with us, we can't get you a toy." Peter cajoled, gently stroking the young werefox but Stiles turned his head away from him and whined louder, his cold nose touching Derek's neck. Derek's endurance was being strained beyond his limits; even during the full moon, he had never felt so tempted to give into his primal nature. He could feel the wolf clawing out. He took a deep breath, only to regret it a second later as he tasted the distress and sadness emanating from Stiles on his tongue.

He felt his body beginning to shift and he hurriedly gave Stiles to Peter who was the closest to him and ran upstairs, barely managing to close the bathroom door before he began to shift back and forth between human and beta mode. He blindly felt for the shower dials, his hands going back and forth from human to clawed, and as soon as his hand found the cold dial, he threw himself into the shower as he turned on the cold water.

He let out a pained breath as his body finally stopped shifting and he slumped down in the tub, running a hand over his face. His heartbeat slowed down as the cold water soaked his clothes and he reverted back into a human. The last time Derek had this problem was when the old house had burned down. It had taken him a while to find his anchor in his anger, and it had held true ever since then. What had happened? Having a mate must have done something to his anchor. He would have to ask Peter about it. In the meanwhile, he would have to tell Stiles to control himself, because Derek couldn't go around town with his anchor so compromised.

The alpha was brought out of his reverie when he heard a gentle knocking on the door.

"Um, Derek?" Stiles' voice sounded scared. "I'm sorry for not turning back. I couldn't. I didn't know how, but the thought of you being mad at me made me change back into a human. It's kind of your fault that I turned into a fox anyway. I mean, for someone so cool, it's hard to believe you don't have peanut butter. I mean, you probably ran out, right? I don't think I can marry you if you don't have peanut butter."

Despite everything, Derek let out a short laugh and he turned off the icy cold water, standing up to tell his little mate that he was alright. As he walked to the door, he heard the sound of his betas scrambling to get away from the door, as if they hadn't been listening in.

The alpha opened the door and Stiles shot himself at him before letting out a scream and letting go of him. The sheriff, who had been standing behind Stiles, chuckled, and Derek thought he could hear laughing around the corner.

"Why are you so cold?!" the young werefox frowned, wiping his arms from where they had touched the wet clothes. "You're going to catch a cold. My mom says that if you leave on wet clothes, you're going to get a cold because of germs. Right, Dad?" He turned to his dad in confirmation and the sheriff nodded.

Stiles turned to Derek with raised eyebrows.

"I was taking a shower?" Derek replied and Stiles sighed, placing a hand on his forehead.

"That's not how you take a shower, silly. Here I can show you." Stiles took his hand and was about to step into the bathroom to Derek's horror when John quickly grabbed Stiles' shoulder and pulled him back out.

"He knows how to take a shower, Stiles. Just let him finish and then we can go get the peanut butter from the store. How does that sound?" the sheriff smiled.

"Sounds pretty fantastic! But, Dad, he doesn't know how to take a _shower_." Stiles stressed.

"I know how to take a shower. I just...fell in." Derek made up lamely and Stiles turned to him with a suspicious eye before accepting it and turning away.

"Okay, but hurry up. I'm hungry. Actually I'm starving, like super duper hungry plus infinity."

Derek closed the door and thumped his head lightly against the wall, swearing that he

would get revenge from whoever did this to Stiles and unknowingly to him.

"I just don't think we should be trusting him so easily." Allison said, crossing her arms as she glanced at the restored Hale House. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and sighed. "I mean, look at what he's done already. When have you ever seen Peter and Derek act like that? I mean, he's adorable and totally acts like Stiles, but there's something off. We're not seeing the whole picture."

"But, Allison, he's just a little kid. He can't really do anything." Scott shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Do you think maybe it's a trap or something?"

"Maybe, but I don't think we should be near him. I feel like he's some kind of walking time bomb." Allison pursed her lips. "I think we're going to need my dad for this. He knows a lot more about all of this than any of us."

"You think your dad can beat me on a supernatural trivia quiz?"

The two teenagers jumped as Peter jumped down from the tree next to them and raised an eyebrow at Allison.

"Taking into consideration that he has learned what he knows from over 200 years worth of information, yes." She nodded smugly. 

"That's where you're wrong, Allison." Peter rolled his eyes at her as he motioned for them to follow him back to the Hale House. "Your father has over 200 years worth of hunting instructions and rudimentary logs in dead languages of creatures they had barely any capability of understanding, most of which only live in Europe. So before you start patronizing me with your teenage 'I know better than thou' attitude, make sure you have a good argument."

"What are you talking about? The Argent records helped us solve the Kanima case." Allison said, offended. Scott glared at Peter in Allison's defense.

"Do you honestly believe the Kanima, a lizard humanoid, originated from California? The Kanima was first spotted near Gabon which is in Africa by the way. It migrated upwards into Europe and can you guess where it made a pit stop? France, where your ancestors probably saw him." Peter smirked. "The only reason your records were able to help were because the Kanima isn't native to the American continent."

"Okay, if you know so much what's wrong with Stiles?" Allison asked with a huff.

"If we're talking his age, then your answer is a witch's spell. If we're talking his state, he's exactly how he's supposed to be at five and a half years old." Peter smiled. "Oh, and if you two ever talk of leaving the pack when you feel it is in danger, I will drag you back to Derek to explain why. A pack is united and works together. They don't keep secrets or run off." With that, Peter opened the front door and let it slam in their faces as he walked back in.

Allison glared at the door then sighed, rolling her eyes.

"What do you think he meant by he's exactly as he's supposed to be?" Scott asked, turning to the brunette who opened the door for them.

"How am I supposed to know?" Allison snapped and Scott blinked in surprise at her vehemence. "After all, I'm just a silly Argent with faulty information."

Scott followed her in silently to the living room where everyone was sitting on the couches except for Isaac who had Stiles in his lap on the floor. Different types of hats were lying around the room and everyone was looking at Stiles with an exasperated look, while the young werefox talked excitedly to Isaac.

"But, I think the best out of all of them is the yellow power ranger, because she's a girl that can kick butt and you don't see that on TV a lot. It's always like this really big dude with like arms the size of the moon and it's actually kind of scary. Girls that aren't sissies are hard to find in movies and TV because they're always really into makeup and Barbies and stuff like that, but I have a friend, well, I guess, it would be an old friend who was really good at baseball and she doesn't really like pink and girly stuff not that I think it's bad to like all that, but not _all_ girls like it, you know."

"Mmhm." Isaac said noncommittally and reached for a baseball cap beside them. "What about this hat?" He put it on Stiles' head and the young werefox immediately had a look of displeasure on his face and he took it off and threw it aside.

"It hurts my ears. They can't move." Stiles shrugged, wiggling his ears and Isaac rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"Stiles, they can't take you to the store if you don't have something to cover up your ears." John said from the couch.

"Wait, aren't you coming, Dad?" Stiles turned his head to his dad and frowned in worry.

"I have to get back to work as soon as Derek comes out of the shower." the sheriff explained and Stiles' eyes turned watery.

"You're going to leave me?" Stiles sniffed.

"I'll be coming back Stiles. You're safe with everyone in this room. They're going to babysit you while I go to work just like Mrs. McCall did when y-your mother and I went out on that date, remember?" Stiles' eyes widened in glee at the mention of Scott's mother.

"Yeah! That was totally awesome! She made me like five peanut butter and honey sandwiches and she has this really cool trampoline in her backyard." Stiles nodded.

"Well, this is just like that except they're _not_ going to give you five sandwiches," John gave a pointed look to the teenagers in the room, "because we both remember what happened last time you ate so many right? You can have at most two." Stiles pouted then shrugged.

"Oh, I guess it's okay then." Stiles smiled then turned his head up to look at Isaac. "You're going to make me peanut butter and honey sandwiches right?"

"Only if we can find you a hat so we can take you to the store." Isaac sighed as he reached for another one.

"Where did you even get all these hats?" Peter asked from the armchair he had settled into. "Because Derek doesn't own any hats, and I'm pretty sure mine are still in boxes."

"They're ours." Erica waved a hand from the couch. She was sprawled over the whole couch with her head in Boyd's lap. "We've been living here for at least half a year and you still don't remember."

"No, I remember. You remind me every morning with your radio alarm that you never turn off." Peter smiled tightly and she just flicked him off.

"There are children in the room." the sheriff said sharply to Erica.

"Sorry."

"Ooo, I like this one!" Stiles said and everyone turned to the young werefox who had a red beanie on his head. His curls peeked out from the edges and his eyes looked a tad bigger. He smiled up at Isaac with his head bent back and Isaac smiled back.

"Well, then, I guess we're ready to go." He smiled.

"Once my NEPHEW DECIDES TO REJOIN THE WORLD AND GET OUT OF THE SHOWER." Peter shouted and they all heard an answering growl from upstairs and all the betas laughed quietly.

Stiles sighed and shifted so that he was lying across Isaac's lap and looked up at the blond.

"You're really pretty." Stiles told him as he reached up and stroked some of his hair. Isaac's cheeks reddened. "Or I guess, you would say handsome, but I think pretty is the better word." Stiles moved again so that his chin was on Isaac's shoulder and he was hugging him loosely. Isaac seemed at a loss on how to react and his hands hovered over Stiles' back, before gently smoothing them down his back which made Stiles' purr and wrap his tail around Isaac's arm.

"Where did these even come from?" Derek said in disgust as he kicked away some of the hats in the living room's entrance.

"Hi, yes, we're your fellow residents who wear hats." Erica said sardonically from the couch with a mocking wave.

"Hi, yes, I'm the owner of this house who likes it clean. Pick up your hats." He frowned and Stiles scrambled off of Isaac and wrapped his arms around Derek's legs.

"Hi, Derek." Stiles smiled widely. "Stop frowning. Mom says that if you make a face for too long, your face stays that way." Derek's frown only increased and Stiles sighed before grabbing one of his arms and tugging him down. The Alpha went down with no resistance and Stiles jabbed a finger between his eyebrows and tried to smooth the frown out. Derek drew back in pain but Stiles followed him leaning forward.

"Stop making that face. You don't look handsome." Stiles pouted and Derek relaxed his expression. Stiles' face lit up with joy and he planted a kiss on Derek's cheek. "Much better."

Derek's mind went utterly blank the second Stiles' lips touched his cheek and he could only stare at his young mate in shock for the next few seconds before he came back into the conversation.

"Hey, Derek, I have to go. They're calling me on the radio. Go get the peanut butter; I can pay you back later. I have double shift tonight so take care of him for me. I'll send Melissa later today just to make sure he's safe." The sheriff raised his eyebrows at the Alpha then nodded at the teenagers goodbye. He kneeled down and opened his arm towards Stiles and the young boy ran to his dad, clutching him tight.

"Love ya, Dad." Stiles whispered.

"Love you too, Stiles." The sheriff smiled then stood up and walked out with a final wave.

Stiles turned to the group and smiled wickedly.

"Now let's go buy some peanut butter, because I am starving."


	4. Chapter 4

"Stiles, stop messing with that, you're going to break it!" Derek scolded harshly as he turned into the store parking lot. The young werefox ignored him and continued messing with the air controls in the back. Isaac tried to make him stop but the young werefox kept reaching for the controls and after ten minutes, the blond was exhausted of defending Derek's car. In the end, the pack decided to split up. Scott, Allison, Boyd, and Jackson would go scout out their places while Isaac, Peter, and Erica stayed with Stiles. Lydia said she would stay at the Hale House and see if she could find anything about werefoxes and age spells.

"But I'm bored! Why do you live so far away from the town?" Stiles whined as he squirmed in Isaac's lap.

"We're practically here, and if you break anything in the car, I will turn around and go back home." Derek growled and Stiles let out a pained whine, tilting his head in submission as he put his hands in his lap. His tail continued to slide against the door, moving the window up and down. Derek frowned and pulled into a parking space and all the werewolves scrambled out of the car where the smell of frustration was heavy.

"Finally." Isaac sighed in relief and he put Stiles down who surprisingly went up to Peter and tugged on his pants for him to pick him up. The older werewolf obliged and picked up the young cub with a sly smirk directed towards the Alpha. Derek wasn't amused in the slightest and glared at their uncle as they headed into the grocery shop.

"Isaac and I can go get the peanut butter-"

"No!" Stiles yelled with a frown. "You don't know my favorite. There's nasty peanut butters in the store, like the ones with nuts. Those are disgusting."

Erica raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes.

"Fine then what are we supposed to get?" the blond turned to Derek who took out a folded list from his jacket pocket and threw it to her. She caught it and began reading it with Isaac over her shoulder skimming.

"Why are we getting so many toys?" Erica asked incredulously.

"And we have blankets at the house. We don't need to buy new ones just because they have superheroes on them." Isaac added.

Peter laughed as Derek glared at them with a blush on his cheeks.

"Just get it. It's for Stiles." Derek said. "Peter and I will go with Stiles for the peanut butter then find you."

"I don't want you to come." Stiles huffed with a frown as he looked away. Derek's head snapped to the young werefox and everyone flinched.

"Why not?"

"Because you're a meanie head."

"I'm going with you and that's final." Derek's eyes flashed red and Stiles growled as he tilted his head minimally.

"Derek, calm down. We're in public and anyone could see you." Peter took a step towards Derek and Stiles tightly wrapped his arms around Peter's neck and began crying. The older werewolf held the young boy closer to him and took a step away from Derek with a confused look on his face. The Alpha was about to shoot himself at Peter when his uncle winced and held a hand to his forehead while the other tightened its grip on Stiles.

"Hey, what's happening?" Derek frowned, reaching out an arm towards the beta who was frowning in concentration. Stiles stopped crying and leaned back to look at Peter, nearly jumping out of his arms when Peter opened his eyes and they were a bright blue.

"Peter?"

His uncle frowned and shook his head a bit then turned to Derek.

"Sorry, just have some...headaches." Peter smiled cockily then turned around. "So, Stiles, let's go find that peanut butter and get away from the mean old Alpha, and maybe on our way back we can find some candy."

"Yes!" Stiles threw a fist in the air happily. Then he wiggled. "Put me down. I can walk by myself." Peter put him down and Stiles grabbed his hand. Derek sighed, knowing he would only upset the boy further if he pushed it and followed them discreetly. He'd give them some space...but not too much space. His uncle was a creep.

It was in the bread aisle that it happened.

"Peter."

"Melissa."

"Care to explain why there is a toddler Stiles holding your hand?"

"Not particularly, but thanks for asking." Peter smarmily replied.

"Hi, Mrs. McCall. Peter and I are getting bread to make peanut butter and honeys because Derek's going to babysit me while Dad works and can you believe that Derek didn't have peanut butter? He's like really cute and smells really good but he didn't have peanut butter but he's still cute." Stiles smiled up at Scott's mother who practically melted under his grin and she crouched down next to the boy. Her eyes looked over his face in wonder and she brushed some of his hair back with a smile.

"Hello, Stiles. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, Mrs. McCall."

"Why don't you go check out the toys section while I talk to Peter? I have to make sure he remembers how to put the honey on your sandwiches." She stood up and gave a pointed look to Peter.

"Oh yeah!" Stiles hit his forehead. "How could I forget to tell him? Thanks, Mrs. McCall!"

Derek followed Stiles, leaving the older beta and the nurse alone.

"Why the hell is there a tiny Stiles?" Melissa whispered angrily as she got in his face.

Peter sighed and told her of what had transpired that day, and Melissa raised an eyebrow at some parts and downright gleeful at others. However her face turned angry when Peter told her of what he overheard Scott and Allison talking about.

"After everything that Stiles went through to help Scott at the beginning of this whole thing, and he was really going to just leave him?" Melissa sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her hand. "I swear I raised him better than this."

"Maybe you did. It may be that girlfriend of his. She is quite the troublemaker."

"Allison isn't a bad person. She just…" Melissa tried to come up with something and Peter snorted at her attempt.

"Was raised by a homicidal family, was taught how to successfully get away with homicide, and has homicidal tendencies that have been demonstrated on the pack… but is still a good person?" Peter snorted. Melissa shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

"That's not important right now. We need to focus on Stiles. He's at the age where his mother told him about her dementia. She died not soon after if I remember correctly." Melissa said crossing her arms. "And he's going to ask for her eventually. What are you going to say?"

"Derek doesn't want us telling him…or at least not yet." Peter rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's a good decision for once." Melissa pursed her lips. "Where is he staying?"

"With Derek and me."

"What?" Melissa frowned. "Absolutely not! I've seen the looks Derek gives Stiles. He'll come stay with me."

"Thanks but no. You see, ignoring my nephew's disturbing moral compass which wouldn't even allow for him to think about Stiles in that way, Derek is very territorial about his suddenly defenseless, innocent mate." Peter said nonchalantly.

"Mate?" Melissa's eyes widened.

"Yeah and not in the Australian way."

"Oh." Melissa looked conflicted for second then she huffed. "Well, I'm still going to visit after my next shift because you Hales have no experience with children." With that she turned, not allowing Peter to even respond. He sighed and listened for Stiles' voice.

"…forgiving you because you're cute. But like don't pick me up because I'm still mad at you- NO! You need to get the one with the Peter Pan person on it." Peter choked on his laughter as he heard his nephew growl softly. He walked to peanut butter aisle where he found Stiles looking at Derek suspiciously.

* * *

It took them a full hour and a half to get out of the store and everyone was so exhausted from getting everything that was on Derek's list that nobody complained when they were pressed against each other in the car. Home finally seemed to be within reach but then Stiles let out a high chirp of excitement when his eyes caught a sign.

"Derek, Mr. Folly's Fun Fortress is coming up. Can we go? Please?" Stiles leaned forward from the back seat and rubbed his face against Derek's arms with big eyes. "Please? I won't be mad anymore!" Derek glared at him from the corner of his eye and his hands tightened on the wheel, and everyone groaned.

"Derek, we're all tired-"

"No, Derek-"

"I swear if you make us go, I will-"

"Fine, Stiles." Derek put his right blinker on and turned into the parking lot. Stiles jumped in excitement falling back into Isaac's lap and squirming in happiness. Everyone else groaned.

"Derek, we should at least go and leave the stuff in the house and then come back." Peter said, knowing that if they went to the house they would stay there. Stiles seemed to understand this and immediately frowned at him.

"Peeeeteer." Stiles whined and the older werewolf's eyes flashed blue before fading into their normal color. "You're being a traitor. That's not fair. If we go to your house, we'll never get to come back."

"Exactly." Peter muttered as he slid out of the car and warily looked at the overly flashy sign above the building. He remembered when this had first opened. His son had been dying to go to it and they went a week after it opened. His heart hurt for a second at the feeling of bittersweet amusement that came with the memory. It seemed like it was so long ago that his sister's and his family had walked through these doors. Derek probably didn't even remember. Peter glanced over at the broody werewolf who was offering his hand to Stiles who took it happily.

"Can you text the rest of the pack and tell them to meet us here?" Derek asked Erica who quickly nodded in excitement and pulled out her phone.

Stiles quickly dragged all of them into the establishment, yanking open the glass door and running in. Derek quickly followed and Peter trailed behind him wondering how long it would take Derek to figure out he had been here before.

"Stiles, you can't go into that section….yet." Derek's eyes widened as he took in the smell and sight. His head swiveled to Peter who gave him a raised eyebrow. "We've been here before."

Peter nodded.

"Before…"

Peter nodded again. Derek's eyes fluttered for a second before he looked down with a pained expression then up at Stiles.

"Oh my god, this is totally awesome! Look, Derek, they have a ball pit! This is totally awesome. I love it! How long can we stay? Can we stay until it closes? Please, Derek?! Please?!" Stiles ran back to Derek and looked up at the Alpha with pleading eyes. His hands locked together in a supplicating manner.

"Okay." Derek nodded.

"No. Absolutely not. We are not staying until it closes. I'm tired." Isaac complained as he plopped himself down on one of the seats. Stiles went over to him and grabbed one of his hands.

"Please, Isaac. It'll be so much fun. I promise. You won't be bored or lonely or anything." Stiles gave him puppy eyes and Isaac looked so torn and shot a betrayed look at Derek before slumping his shoulders and nodding. Stiles launched himself at him and hugged him tightly before skipping back over to Derek who had moved to the counter buying tickets for the whole pack, including the buffet and play option for all of them and if he added laser tag too, well it only cost five more dollars for each of them. The end amount ended up being around 270 dollars. It was moments like these that he was glad his family had left him a humongous inheritance.

"Oh my god, they have a cotton candy machine." Stiles said reverently as he slowed walked over to it. He touched it softly and leaned his forehead on the glass, taking a deep breath. "I didn't know cotton candy had a smell. It's so sweet. I can't. Peter. I need it."

"Not until you've eaten lunch." Peter sniffed haughtily as he turned away from the werefox and sat down at one of the tables, reveling in his revenge on Stiles for making them come. The young werefox looked stricken and he turned his betrayed eyes to Isaac who had watched the exchange. The beta reeled back and turned before he met Stiles' eyes, running to Erica who was playing with one of the gun games. Stiles gasped, sliding to his knees in hopelessness.

"Stiles, get off the floor. It's dirty." Derek frowned as he approached the kid.

"Cotton candy." Stiles whispered brokenly as he looked up at the Alpha who sighed.

"I can get you some." Derek said seriously as he kneeled.

Stiles immediately brightened and he gave Derek a wide smile before hugging him tightly. Derek froze for a second not knowing what to do before hugging him back and hiding a small smile in Stiles' shoulder. Unfortunately for him, Peter decided to join in and threw himself at the hugging pair, wrapping an arm around the two of them.

"I can feel the love tonight." Peter sighed wistfully and Derek had no qualms about shoving his uncle's disturbing cooing face away from his mate.

"Aw, don't be boring, Derek." Peter smirked, rubbing at his jaw as he stood up. Stiles giggled then grabbed Derek's hand and dragged him over to the arcade section to one of the gun games and Peter snorted at seeing his 26 Alpha nephew blushing as he was pulled by a tiny little hipster werefox with a beanie slightly too big.

Peter grabbed one of the game cards Derek had left on the table for them and headed over to that game where you would bowl the mini balls into the tiny holes. He had always hated those because he swore that the balls had some kind of magnet in them or the holes moved. He was badass at bowling and this game shouldn't be this hard for a werewolf. He lost himself in the game, growling as he kept getting low scores.

The rest of the pack eventually filed in with Scott stumbling in last because his phone had died because he forgot to charge it. Allison was nowhere to be seen. Lydia and Jackson came in together but Lydia had her nose stuck in a book with a frustrated look on her face. When Boyd arrived, Erica dragged him to compete with her on the dancing game that had a bunch of songs in some Asian language that no one ever understood but still danced to. Jackson challenged Lydia to a race and by the look on his face, Lydia seemed to be winning.

After Stiles had become bored with Derek, he wandered off and let the Alpha sink back to the table. As he looked over the arcade making sure everyone was safe, he suddenly realized that this was the first time in perhaps months that all of them had gotten together for the sake of simply having fun. Everyone seemed to have lost some of the weight they carried in their shoulders and were simply enjoying life. Derek felt a small sense of satisfaction at seeing his pack happy. His eyes wandered fr

Stiles would join in random games with other people. With Peter, he just grabbed the ball and walked all the way to the hole and slam-dunked those suckers like the cheater he was and Peter gave him playful glare when the game said Stiles won which made the boy laugh in his face. With Erica and Boyd, he would hopelessly jump on all the colors before giving up and giving Boyd puppy eyes until the beta sighed and let Stiles step on his feet so that he would dance but give the werefox the satisfaction of thinking he achieved all those points. Isaac and Scott were screaming and laughing helplessly as they got in one of those curtained shooting games where the seats would buzz and the surround sound was just a little too much on the werewolves ears. Stiles peeked in then quickly backed away in fear. And as he looked around looking for a new game to play, his eyes zoomed in on the ball pit.

"Derek, I want to play in the ball pit." He walked over to Derek who was opening the pizza boxes that had finally come out. Everyone's mouths were watering and the Alpha had to swat at everyone's hands so that they wouldn't take a piece.

"Well, you can go play then come back and eat your pizza." Derek said as he flashed his eyes at Lydia who simply rolled her eyes and snatched her piece out of the box. The gall.

"But I can't play in the ball pit alone. Everyone needs to be in it." Stiles said. "The whole pack."

Everyone froze at those words and there was almost a breathless moment before Erica yanked Stiles to her with shine to her eyes as she hugged him tight.

"Of course, Stiles. Come on, Boyd. We'd love to play in it with you. The rest of the pack would too, right guys?" Erica gave a dangerous smile to the rest of the pack who looked torn between pizza and Stiles' hopeful golden eyes. Scott stuffed his in his mouth then jumped from his seat and tugged Stiles with him with the rest of the pack trailing behind them.

Before they knew it, they were swimming in a sea of different colored balls with all of them looking for Stiles who kept laughing as he popped up for air occasionally but then Erica accidently sent a wave of balls towards Lydia who retaliated which led to a vicious ball fight. Thank god that these were soft. Isaac, Jackson, and Scott chose Lydia's side while Boyd, Derek, and Peter chose Erica's. Their laughter ranged from shrieking to soft giggles and honestly, Derek couldn't remember ever having this much fun.

On the other hand, Peter kept getting random images popping up in his head.

Images with a boy with red fox ears and bright golden eyes.

Images where said boy should not be.

Images where his son used to be.

But the more he thought about his son, the more his appearance eluded him.

And that terrified him.


	5. Girls, Bones, and Anchors

All of the pack froze at the sound of the doors opening, all of them quickly shifting back into their human selves, hiding the furriness that had been appearing as they had become more carefree. A little girl and her father entered the building, with the little girl wearing combat boots and a bright blue dress. She quickly ran towards the arcade section and Derek saw Stiles watching her from the corner of his eye.

"Can I go play with her?" Stiles turned to look at Derek and the Alpha shrugged, nodding. "Awesome!" Then he scrambled out of the ball pit and ran into the arcade section, sock clad.

"Hi! My name's Stiles and I'm five and a half! What's your name?" His little mate asked the girl who looked at him with cheerful eyes.

"My name's Jo." She replied shyly. "I'm six."

"So you're like in first grade?" Stiles said excitedly, and when she nodded hesitantly, he practically burst with excitement. "That's so cool! You get to learn all the cool stuff and I'm stuck learning things like ABC's. It's so boring. You're so lucky. You wanna play some games?"

"Uh, s-sure." Jo replied giving him a smile that verged on excitement and nervousness. "Which game?"

"Ooo, what about that game with the dinosaurs and we have to shoot them?"

Jo's eyes widened and she snatched her hand away.

"B-but I'm a girl. I'm not a boy. How did you—?" Jo's eyes filled with frustrated tears and Stiles looked at her in confusion, wondering what he had done, but not figuring out what he had said.

"Girls can play that game too; I mean, it's kind of scary but girls are pretty brave. There's this one girl in my class called Lydia and she's not scared of anything." Stiles tried to fix it, and Jo blinked through the tears on her eyelashes.

"You don't think that playing it makes me a boy?" Jo asked, biting her lip and Stiles burst out laughing.

"Of course not! Dude, that game is so fun and I'd be sad if only boys could play it cuz girls are smart and they usually win. Let's go play!" Stiles pulled her arm and Jo laughed before following him to the game that Isaac and him had played. It was one of those terrifying interactive games where it was surround sound and the seats buzzed and shifted and everything seemed to be just a little too terrifying and real, but Stiles was brave. He could do this…hopefully.

Derek glared suspiciously at the girl who was being dragged around by Stiles. He lifted an eyebrow when he saw them entering Jurassic Park III, Pterodactyl's Terror. Definitely not a kid's game. He moved to go towards them before they entered but was stopped by Peter's hand on his shoulder.

"They have to learn their lesson to obey their parents when they say don't go to adult places." Peter shrugged amused. Derek sighed and relented.

That was how two minutes later, the only thing you could hear from the arcade was the hysterical, terrified laughing borderline shrieking from the curtained machine. The father of the girl, Leonard 'Bones' McCoy had migrated towards them and Peter, Derek, and he had been talking about the man's career as an Airforce medic. He didn't look like he did much of the physical aspect of it. However, Peter and him tried arm wrestling and Peter had a look of shock on his face when he found out his werewolf strength was being threatened by a mere human's and the Beta werewolf just barely managed to beat him.

"You have to be in the military. There's no way you're that strong just from working out." Bones said incredulously. Peter gave him a tilted smile shrugging, obviously reveling in the praise.

"I just work out." Peter leaned his head against his hand, resting his elbow on the table. Another shriek came from arcade section and Bones' head looked worriedly in the direction of the scream.

"Maybe we should get them out of there. There has to be some psychological babble nonsense that says this is gonna fuck them up in the head." Bones looked at Peter with a side glance.

"There's also a little joy in being scared though."

"But to what extent?" Bones scoffed.

At that second, the two children stumbled out from behind the curtains with Stiles sliding down to his knees with tears down his face and Jo right beside him lying on the ground, panting.

Peter, Derek, and Bones quickly walked over to them.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Bones rapid fire asked, looking at the two of them. Derek was quick to position Stiles so that he could look at the werefoxes' face, wiping the tears from his face with his thumbs.

"I won." Jo smiled triumphantly, her voice shaking as she looked up at her dad.

"It's not fair. I wasn't expecting for the seat to move." Stiles sniffed as he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "God, I wish I was a girl sometimes. I'm nowhere near as brave as you but I guess you do win."

"Well, kid, I doesn't matter whether you're a boy or a girl. Both can be as brave as the other." Bones smiled as he ran a hand through Jo's hair.

"Let's go play another game." Jo said, grabbing Stiles' hand and when he nodded, dragged him towards the car games. Derek's eyes zoomed in on where their hands were connected. "Dad, do you want to come?"

"No, you go on, honey. It's fine. We still have the rest of today and tomorrow to do whatever you want. Have fun with your new friend."

Once the kids were far enough, Derek turned to Bones.

"Today and tomorrow?"

"This is the first time Jo and I have been able to do anything since my last tour. My damn ex-wife took everything when we got the divorce, leaving me with just the bones in my body and the occasional vacation with my daughter." Bones sighed.

"What a bitch." Peter shook his head.

"I know."

Peter saw Derek from the corner of his eyes, glaring in the direction Stiles and Jo had gone. There was a brief silence as they walked to the table where the pizza boxes were. Bones sat down.

"That's a lot of pizza for the two guys and a kid." Bones said drily at the ten pizza boxes empty. Derek let out a snort, too surprised to even hold it back.

"It's not just us; we're with some of my friends who are playing who knows what." Derek said, pointing to the various members of the pack and introducing them to Bones.

"That's a lot of people. Is it what's his name, Stiles' birthday?"

"Just having some bonding time." Peter replied with a shrug, bored with the conversation. He had his phone out and was typing something roughly.

Bones nodded.

"By the way, you guys don't strike me as the transphobic type. My daughter is going through a phase right now where she feels insecure about her femininity so if she says anything about what a girl would do, please just tell her its fine." Leonard looked at their faces and Derek's was priceless.

"Wait, so she's not- she wasn't born a girl?" Derek stumbled over his words.

"No, Jo was originally Joseph, but then she kind of discovered she wanted to wear skirts and dresses. I don't mind it, but my ex is struggling through it." Leonard said.

Derek raised his eyebrows.

"That must be rough." Derek said.

Before Bones could answer, Derek heard Stiles' heartbeat skyrocket and he frowned, standing up.

"Talking about them, where are they?" Derek asked and followed the sound of his heartbeat and when he turned to behind one of the arcade machines, his vision bled red. Stiles and Jo were leaning in towards each other curiously, their lips inches apart.

"What are you doing?" His voice chilled and the two children froze in horror. They turned to Derek who had his eyes trained on Jo. There was a sudden hand on his shoulder and he turned with a growl to the person only to realize with a jolt that it was Bones. The doctor jerked back and groaned.

"Goddammit, not you too. What are you?" Bones grumbled before turning to see what he was looking at. "Jo! What are you doing?"

"Well, Stiles saved me so I decided to give him a kiss because that's what princesses do to princes, right?" Jo smiled, revealing the gap of missing front teeth. She grabbed Stiles' hand and Derek growled only to be held back by Bones' strong grip. Stiles sniffed the air cautiously before turning confused eyes to Derek and the Alpha snapped, yanking out from Bones' grip. He pulled Stiles into his arms and practically ran out of the place to the car where he quickly entered and locked the car, wrapping himself around the young werefox so that his scent would cover him completely. He nosed at Stiles' neck who tilted his head back in submission. It took him a couple of deep breaths to finally calm down. It was only because of Stiles running his hands through Derek's hair that the Alpha fought the urge to wipe the girl's existence off the face of the earth for touching what was his. Stiles was **his** and this girl thought she could just put her lips on what was his. His grip tightened on Stiles.

There was a knock on the window. Derek drew his lip back in an angry snarl, his eyes burning a bright red as his fangs unraveled. his eyes burning a bright red as his fangs unraveled. Then suddenly, he was snapped back into reality with the shocked bright blue eyes that belonged to the human veteran, Bones.

"Goddamit, why do I keep finding you stupid supernatural creatures?!" Bones cursed, folding his arms and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Ooo, Derek! Derek! He said a bad word! He owes us a nickel!" Stiles jostled Derek's arm, pointing at the man waiting outside the car who gave a snort at Stiles' remark.

"As if I got any money to give ya, son." Bones rolled his eyes then looked at Derek who was still frozen. "But how about you head on over with Jo, while I talk to Derek here." Bones pointed towards the truck that was running behind him. Stiles didn't hesitate to shoot out and scream a greeting to Jo who was waving at him as she leaned out the window. Derek let his eyes stay on Stiles for as long as possible before he dragged his eyes up to Bones who was waiting patiently.

"So, when were you planning on showing any self-restraint in front of a human?" Bones crossed his arms, eyebrows raised in question. "When you speed ran your way out of the place? When you showed your fangs and supernatural eyes at me? What in God's name where you thinking?!" Bones snarled and whacked Derek upside the head. The Alpha let out a surprised noise as the other brought up both of his hands to massage his forehead.

"I swear; I just attract idiots around me." Bones muttered before turning back to Derek. "Is that your pack in there?"

Derek nodded.

"Then why do you act so unbalanced?"

"What do you mean?"

"You act on your emotions. It's like you have no anchor!"

"What do you know about anchors?" Derek said defensively.

"Son, don't start using that tone with me. I'm part of the Kirk pack up in San Francisco. I know my stuff. But you haven't answered my question. Where is your anchor?" Bones crossed his arms, looking at Derek with expectant blue eyes.

"I…I lost it." Derek confessed guiltily.

"What do you mean you lost it?!"

"My anger used to be my anchor, but now Stiles is my anchor and he was turned from a normal teenage boy to a hyperactive five-year-old werefox. It's not exactly the most stable of anchors, okay?" Derek let out a tired noise as he finally said the words he had been trying to avoid for the last day.

"Oh." Bones turned to look at Stiles who was talking animatedly to Jo in the front seat of his truck. "Is he your….mate?" He turned to give Derek a questioning look, and the werewolf just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Yeah, but I never planned to tell him." Derek let his eyes wander to Stiles too, his heart hurting inside his chest. Bones sported a suddenly sympathetic look on his face.

"Just be careful in public since your control is so unstable. Make sure the kid gets enough nutrients as a werefox." Bones said gruffly, patting Derek on the shoulder. "Jo and I have to get going but make sure to call us anytime. I gave my phone to Peter before he left."

Derek frowned.

"Left?"


	6. Storage Keys, Spray, and Snuggles

Peter knew that he should've stayed with the pack but his window of opportunity had been too good to resist. After saying goodbye to Bones who gave him his number, Peter sneaked out to his motorcycle and zoomed off, knowing full well that his nephew would be too occupied with the young werefox to realize his absence.

For the last day, his mind had been nagged by the feeling that Stiles was more involved with his past than he had previously thought. He kept popping up in memories where he shouldn't be at all. Like at pack dinners with Talia and his nephews and nieces when they were younger. It was disorienting to a disturbing extent and every time that he tried to concentrate on a memory, it would get fuzzy and his head would start to hurt.

So the only person that could answer his questions was…himself. After the fire, while he had been in the hospital, his belongings had been moved to a warehouse along with all of the other Hale stuff. After he had woken up, Peter couldn't stand even going near it, because it was too painful.

But now…. now he had to find out what was happening to his head. And the only way to figure that out was to go through his old journals and see what had really happened. Peter had his suspicions that someone had magically tampered with his head but Peter knew that his journals would get him back on track.

As sign by sign flew past him on the highway, Peter's heart began to pound in his chest. It had been so long since he had seen any of the remains of the old Hale House. The day Peter had turned good Derek had given him the key to the storage unit where all the old stuff was. The older werewolf had put off looking at it, mostly because there was so many monsters that had come through town but also because of the amount of emotional baggage that came with reliving the past through burned furniture and photo albums.

"When did I become so sentimental." Peter scoffed as he made a sharp right into the storage place. The sign in front of the building was an annoying bright orange that contrasted against the ugly pasty color of the building which had definitely seen better days. Peter sneered as he parked his bike next to the door.

The bell let out a sharp ring as he pushed open the door to a smelly room.

The man inside was smoking a cigarette and he lazily looked up at the werewolf, not even bothering to put down the magazine he was reading. The scent of smoke set Peter's nerves on edge.

"Can I help you?" the man drawled, looking expectantly at Peter with a bored look.

"I need to get a storage unit but I don't know where it is. It's A 25.9." Peter said stiffly. The guy rolled his eyes as he let out a yawn and tilted his head to the wall next to him where a framed map was hung. It was faded with time and barely looked to be accurate.

"It's in Lot A, section 25, 9th unit. It's not that hard to figure out."

It took Peter a good thirty seconds to convince himself not to paint the walls of this appalling office with the blood of this insubordinate human. He had to remind himself that he wasn't a psychopathic killer anymore.

"Thank you." Peter smiled tightly. The man rolled his eyes and returned to his magazine. Peter left the office as fast as his werewolf feet could carry him.

In the end, it wasn't hard to find the storage unit. It only took some minimal look over at all the faded signs. Peter was loath to admit that his hand shook as he slid the key into the lock. He could feel his heartbeat in his hands, thumping with every second that passed.

He almost fell to his knees as the door slid up to reveal the contents inside. There was burned furniture in there, ranging from the couch his sister had been ridiculous about buying, the frames of the beds to the twin nieces who hadn't survived the fire, a photo half burned where the whole Hale family had posed for, and boxes of other stuff that belonged to the family that had once resided in Beacon Hills.

Peter couldn't help the sharp grieved sound that escaped his throat as he leaned against the wall on weakened knees. Every little thing that his eyes wandered over brought memories of his family being happy— being alive. As tears blurred his vision, a deep and sudden anger filled him, his claws coming out. This is why he hated hunters. They were stupid idiotic narrow-minded fools who were too scared to realize the horror of their actions. His _family_ was more than just werewolves. His brother in law had been _human_. His grandniece was _human_. And they were dead because those goddamn hunters were trigger happy monsters to desperate to believe that something that wasn't exactly like them had to be exterminated.

The older werewolf shakily walked to one of the boxes, tearing it open, and he almost howled in grief. At the very top of random items that was in the box was his son's favorite toy. _**His son's favorite toy.**_ Peter gently took the stuffed wolf out and slid down to the floor, pressing his nose against the fabric…

He froze.

 _There wasn't a smell of fire. Or smoke._

Peter's heart froze and he pressed his nose harder into the toy but the smell wasn't there. _It wasn't there._ His hands shook as he looked at the toy. He _knows_ that this was his son's toy. His son who had died in the fire. _Why wasn't there the smell of fire and smoke?_

Dropping the toy, Peter shot himself towards the box and the first thing he saw was one of his journals. He grabbed it with an almost angry desperation and flipped it to one of the last entries.

 _Talia will regret this- I'll make sure of it. It's bad enough that she's Alpha although I'm the older of the two, but now she wants to take the ONE thing that stops me from going crazy— the one thing that's good in my life…But let's ignore me for a second—How could she do this to Genim?_

"Genim." Peter softly mouthed and then suddenly his head exploded with pain, not even giving Peter time to clutch his head before he was falling to the floor with blackening vision.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After everyone had helped to clean up, the pack went to the Hale House. The groceries had been put up and everyone was taking showers while Stiles watched television in the living room. It had been a long day and everyone was just ready for bed.

Derek thankfully had his own shower so he didn't have to wait on other people like the rest of the pack, but as he was reaching for the gel he usually styled his hair with, his eyes caught the sight of the hairspray Isaac used for his hair. The pack was always leaving their stuff in his restroom even when he told them that this was _his_ restroom. He was about to roll his eyes and ignore it when the sudden image of Stiles touching Isaac's hair fondly filled his mind.

Stiles had said he liked Isaac's hair.

Would Stiles like his hair if it was styled like Isaac's?

Derek paused for a second, his hand wavering between the gel and hairspray. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. It wouldn't look the same. Isaac had naturally curly hair and his was straight. But…. Stiles liked Isaac's hair. Derek licked his dry lips and without giving it a second thought grabbed Isaac's hairspray. It shouldn't be that hard. It was fairly simple.

This was the train of the thought that led to Derek staring at himself hopelessly in the mirror with hair in uncomfortable hard shelled strands of hair that stuck up in random angles. He was about to try another part of his hair when the door to the bathroom suddenly opened.

Derek froze as Isaac walked in, a question halfway out of his mouth.

"Hey, have you seen my hairsp—" Isaac stopped as he saw Derek leaning over the sink with his hairspray in his hand, with a guilty and desperate look on his face. The beta opened and closed his mouth several times

"What…. I don't even know what to say."

Derek flushed a deep red and scowled.

"I was just…curious." The Alpha said weakly.

Isaac raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. Derek sighed.

"I was…trying to impress Stiles, because he liked your hair…so I thought..." Derek mumbled. Isaac let out a snort and bent over double laughing.

"Derek, you just had to ask for help. I can't believe Stiles has you this wrapped around your finger." Isaac sniggered. The Alpha growled menacingly at him but the effect was lost with the ridiculous hair on Derek's head. "Do you want me to help you?"

The Alpha scowled but nodded.

Isaac made him wash his hair again to get all the product out of his hair. Then he made Derek sit down on a chair in front of the mirror. It only took him ten minutes and Derek had a similar hairstyle to Isaacs, but it wasn't hard shelled like it had been at the beginning. It was soft and styled like Isaac's.

"Thank you, Isaac." Derek breathed as he touched his hair lightly. Standing up, Derek turned around and drew in the beta into a hug, scenting him by dragging their cheeks together making Isaac let out a satisfied hum.

"Come on. Everyone's already downstairs, watching Lazy Town with Stiles."

"Lazy Town?" Derek frowned.

Isaac shrugged. "It's your mate, Derek. He's really weird."

The two of them headed down and Derek's wolf rumbled in contentment to see his pack all around the living room, the smell of satisfaction permeant in the air. Erica currently had Stiles in her lap, his back to her chest, while she was in a similar position with Boyd, leaning back against him. Lydia was sitting on one of the couches, looking at the kitchen where Jackson was getting snacks. Scott was sleeping face down on the floor, his mouth open with drool forming a pool. The only one missing was Peter, but Derek knew his uncle had a tendency to sneak off and do whatever he does.

Stiles who had been looking at the TV with half lidded eyes brightened visibly and turned to Derek.

"Derek!" He smiled and jumped from Erica's lap to the Alpha who caught him easily. Stiles wrapped his skinny arms around Derek's neck and rubbed his cheek energetically against Derek's neck. Then he leaned back in Derek's arms and looked up at his hair. The werefox grabbed his face and turned it from one side to the other, and the Alpha shifted nervously waiting for Stiles' assessment on his hair. As Stiles ran his hand through Derek's new hair, the alpha couldn't help the pleased purr that escaped his throat. Stiles giggled.

"Your hair is so soft. I like it." Stiles kissed Derek on the cheek. "My husband is the handsomest person in the world." Derek lifted one side of his mouth in a smile. Isaac walked past them beyond Stiles peripheral and lifted both of his thumbs.

"Der, can we do a pack cuddle?" the young werefox pouted his lip and Derek nodded. Everyone scrambled to drag down the blankets that were on the couches to the floor, tucking them in around Scott who remained sleeping through the whole ordeal. Stiles was the first to settle in, dragging down Isaac with him. The blond chuckled and settled in front of Stiles. Derek was the next one and he settled behind Stiles, wrapping a secure arm around the him. The others squeezed in, intertwining legs and wrapping arms around each other. Scott had let out a confused noise, but Erica shushed him, patting his face. It only took a little while before everyone was dead asleep.

Derek frowned just as he slipped into unconsciousness. There was something wrong from one of the pack members. The drowsiness won over the concern and Derek fell asleep

It was dark when Derek felt himself being jostled awake. He jerked, his eyes snapping open to meet with those of the illuminating blue of his uncle. Blinking as he let out a yawn, he slowly detangled himself from Stiles' grip around his arm and Scott's legs intertwined with his. Peter signaled him desperately to come with him to the kitchen and Derek could smell grief and desperation on his uncle. That woke him up and he quickly stood up and followed Peter into the kitchen.

"Peter? Where were you?" Derek frowned and Peter had his back to him, one hand running through his hair. "Peter?"

The werewolf turned around and there were tears in his uncle's eyes.

"Derek…I didn't have a son." Peter's breath was unsteady. "Stiles…. Genim…. Genim is my son."

* * *

 **A/N: I am so mean. I left you with yet another cliffhanger. And a confusing one at that. This time I mean it. Next chapter will finally reveal the whole deal with Peter and his memories. Man, I've been planning this since forever and it's coming out so much better than I hoped.**

 **Please comment below things you would like to see! I am always open to suggestions!**

 **Currently Listening to: Hotel California by the Eagles.**


	7. Journals, Batman, and Merlin

Derek dragged him out of the room by his arm, leading him out of the house before he turned to him with questioning eyes.

"What?" Derek said succinctly, crossing his arms as he turned to his uncle who reached into his jacket and pulled out a worn out journal, which seemed to be crumbling of old age. As soon as the scent hit Derek's nose however, he drew back, taking back a step as a sudden grief rose. It was the scent of all the old Hale stuff. A scent he hadn't smelled since putting all of their old stuff in the storage unit with Laura.

"Why...why did you go?" Derek said before Peter could even let out a word. "Peter, why the fuck would you go there after all the good that's been happening? Can't you just enjoy having some happiness for a moment?"

"I didn't understand it at first, Derek, but I get it now." Peter laughed almost emptily. "Stiles is my son-"

"Stiles is not my cousin, Peter." Derek's lip curled in disgust.

Peter let out a frustrated breath.

"That's not what I meant. Listen!" Peter snarled, his hand tightening around the journal. "This whole time that Stiles has been turned small, I couldn't get the thought of my son out of my head. But the more I thought about him, the more I couldn't remember him. His face. The color of his eyes. How he laughed. Nothing. It was like those memories that blurs when you think too hard about it. But how could I forget everything specific to my son? I had to find out what was happening. I had to remember, and the only place where I could go for that was the storage unit."

Peter looked down at this and he licked his lips before raising his eyes to the Alpha was frowning.

"I never had a son, Derek. It's hilarious that I didn't even question having a son before. Derek, I'm asexual. How the hell was I supposed to have a child if I hated sex? And I could never have adopted because I moved around too much." Peter snorted. "Someone messed with my head. They made me think that all the memories I had of Stiles when he was younger were memories of some son I had, that I guess when the fire happened I just assumed died in the fire."

"Wait, I don't get it. You never had a son?" Derek frowned. "But I remember..." Derek's eyes widened as his eyes shifted, trying to remember. The memories seemed to be there, but the more Derek sought them, the more they eluded him.

"Exactly." Peter's lips settled into a straight line. "There is nothing to remember, because whatever spell was put on us makes us forget the details of my supposed son."

"But, wait, how do you know it's Stiles? It could just be a spell to put fake memories in your head."

Peter silently handed him the journal.

"You know there's no one I trust more than myself. So imagine my not surprise when my past self explained to me exactly what I was missing."

Derek opened the journal cautiously and managed to catch the photo that slipped out of the pages and he froze when he saw what it was. It was a picture of a younger tween version of him laughing as a young Stiles tackling him to the ground...But that was impossible because he hadn't met Stiles until he had met Scott which was only a few years ago.

"I thought you might like that certain photo I found from among the albums." Peter sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sit down. It's going to take you a while to read all of it."

Derek wordlessly opened the journal as he slid down the trunk of the tree next to them.

* * *

The first time Peter had met Claudia Stilinski was through Talia. Claudia and her pack had moved from Los Angeles to the small town of Beacon Hills, and they had come to ask permission from the Alpha of the main pack of the territory, Talia Hale. As it turns out, the werefox and werewolf had a lot in common and became instant friends.

It helped of course that the minute Claudia stepped foot inside the door with her husband right behind her, the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs suddenly filled the air.

Talia turned on her heel, ready to scold her second oldest son, Derek, from letting his younger siblings out only to find herself shocked at the sight of him speeding past her and towards the young Stilinski child who was holding his mother's hand.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't help it. He smells amazing." Derek babbled as he leaned into the young werefox's space. The golden-eyed child giggled and pressed his hand on Derek's cheek. Talia stared in horror, her eyes flickering to the werefox alpha only to find her equally amused and surprised at the turn of events.

"What is he doing to our child, Claudia?" John let out in a desperate tone after realizing that no one was going to say anything about the young boy nuzzling his son. Claudia laughed.

"They're true mates, John. Genim, do you wanna go play with the young Hale?" She said sweetly to her son. Talia let out a sigh of relief. She was worried that the Alpha werefox would rightfully tear Derek a new one.

"Yes, mama." Stiles toothily smiled as he took Derek's hand.

As her eyes shifted to the father, she quickly realized that her problem wasn't going to reside in the Alpha but in the father who was currently glaring intensely at her son. Derek seemed to be over the moon as he looked at their joined hands.

"Why don't you two go upstairs and play with some of your toys, Derek?" Talia gently suggested. Stiles whirled towards the young werewolf with shining eyes.

"Toy?!" Stiles gasped excitedly. Derek nodded and tugged them up the stairs to his room, leaving Talia with Claudia and John Stilinski.

"So, I believe we will be getting to know each other very well." Claudia smiled as Talia led them to sit on the couch.

"I do believe you're right." Talia laughed, breaking what was left of tension in the room.

Peter who had stayed quiet during the whole exchange spoke up.

"While my sister may trust you blindly, I would like to know why you conveniently decided to move to Beacon Hills." Peter sniffed as he suspiciously glared at John who seemed happy to have someone to direct his annoyance to.

"My husband is going to get an interview to be the new Deputy." Claudia responded gently, squeezing their conjoined hands. "We moved from Los Angeles because it was too busy and there were simply too many eyes watching. Genim hasn't been able to fully control his shift and we wanted to make sure he would be able to practice without getting caught."

"You do know that a whole family of hunters live here, right? The Argents are the most well-known hunters of the west coast." Peter sneered, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall. He could feel the glare that Talia was directing at him, but he kept the eye contact with the werefox. In the corner of his eye, Peter saw John visibly stiffen and turn his head questioningly to Claudia whose sunny disposition faltered.

"I know, but I also know of the pact between the Argents and the Hales. The Hales can allow other packs to settle in the town with the protection of secrecy as long as there are no more than two magical beings in the pack. I was hoping you would be willing to let us settle here, considering we're only a pack of three, with one human, one fully developed werefox, and a child werefox." Claudia had shifted her gaze from Peter to Talia halfway through her speech.

Now it was Peter's turn to glare at Talia and his sister seemed all too aware of the power she had in her hands.

"I would be happy to welcome you to Beacon Hills, Alpha Stilinski." Talia said succinctly and Peter's mouth dropped open indignantly.

"Talia-!" Peter began to protest but was interrupted by Claudia.

"Thank you so much, Alpha Hale." Claudia enthusiastically said with a wide grin.

The beta werewolf huffed as the two Alphas began to talk about which neighborhoods were the best and when a dinner should be set up as thanks. Sneaking away angrily, Peter climbed the stairs by two and he turned to head towards his room. These were the reasons that made him question why Talia had turned out to be Alpha. She was too trusting! This werefox pack could easily be looking to exploit the biggest pack of southern California.

Halfway through his mental rant, Peter's attention was suddenly on the sound of a light giggling laughter coming from Derek's room.

He silently walked towards the open door.

Genim was enthusiastically playing out a story with some of Derek's Power Rangers in front of the young werewolf. Talia's youngest children were there too, enraptured by their brother's new friend and his stories.

Peter watched as the young werefox grabbed the toys from Derek's hands. A sense of rage filled him but he kept it down, releasing the tight fists he had on either side of him. How could Talia not see how dangerous this little boy could be?

His nieces and nephews were the first to notice his presence. They looked up at Peter with backs straightened, but Genim continued playing with Derek who seemed as enraptured as the younger boy. Before Peter could let out a growl, Genim finally seemed to notice the older beta werewolf and he gave him a wide grin, letting go of the toy he had in his hand. With shaky hands, he got to his feet and began to walk over to Peter who frowned suspiciously at the lack of fear in Genim' steps. The other kids seemed to be stretching out their hands as if to stop Genim but were too hesitant to get close to Peter themselves. Derek, in particular, was moving back and forth like if there was a rope pulling him back and forth.

The young werefox reached Peter's leg and looked up at him with the biggest smile Peter had ever seen on a kid in his vicinity.

"Batman." Genim said as he outstretched his hands up, motioning for Peter to pick him up. "Hero Batman. Up! Up!" Peter spluttered for a second. However, Genim didn't seem to be overly concerned with the existential crisis Peter was going through, and he began stomping his feet, pouting.

And, if Peter had to choose a moment where Genim slithered into his heart was at this moment, with the werefox's bright gold eyes looking up at him with unbridled awe as he picked him up.

* * *

Derek's head shot up from the journal with his mouth wide open.

"But, that's impossible. Why can none of us remember him? What about Deaton? Wouldn't he still know?" Derek flipped through the pages, catching phrases and pictures that were put on the pages.

"Come on, Derek. We both know that Deaton is not a reliable source of information when it comes to things like this." Peter crossed his arms, rolling his eyes at the naivety of his nephew. The air around them seemed to have grown stiller as Derek had read the journal, and Derek ran a hand down his face, letting out a sigh.

"Well, then, what happened? And just tell me, because your handwriting is a fucking headache to read." Derek said, closing the notebook and handing it back to the beta. The other tsked, rolling his eyes.

"That's why I started using a laptop. And according to me, this was what happened..."

* * *

Claudia's hands tightened on the car wheel. The slick Jeep was so recognizable that she could spot it from 20 miles away. The only thing was how did SHE manage to follow them here? The Stilinski Alpha pulled out of the supermarket parking lot, making her way back home.

In their old city, the hunters and the weres in the community had gotten along before the monster that goes by Kate Argent began swimming in the hunter's circles, making other hunters throw away the rules and just shoot down the supernatural community. Kate was one of the reasons she had decided to move. Genim was too precious to her to even allow him to be near such a despicable human being.

But...but now she was here in Beacon Hills, which made Claudia's anxiety and anger rise. There was no doubt about it. That...that bitch was here to try and kill her and her son.

The Alpha knew that she could manage to get by, because she had trained her fox until she had perfect control. The only problem was that Stiles didn't have that iron control over his wolf. If he got too upset or happy, his werefox traits would appear. She couldn't let this happen, and there was only one person who could help her with this.

It was this train of thought that led to her standing in front of Emrys Pendragon's front door step. It only took her three knocks before the door opened to reveal one of the two inhabitants of the house.

"Claudia?" Arthur frowned in confusion. "Is everything alright? Come in."

"Thank you. Come on, Genim." She tugged her son's hand who had been distracted by the lion statue next to the doorbell. Once the door was shut behind them, she turned to Arthur who was had taken her coat.

"I'm here to see Merlin." She admitted. "I need him to cast a spell for me"

The blond man immediately nodded.

"He's in the study. What kind of spell is it?" Arthur looked curiously at her as he led her into the house.

"There's a hunter in town, and I think she's here for Genim and me." Claudia said. "Genim is too young to control his shift, and I just think it would be safer for him to have those genes turned dormant. I've seen the spell cast before. I know that Merlin can do it. After all, he's the greatest sorcerer that's ever walked the earth."

"Aw, Claudia, you're making me blush." Merlin grinned as his husband and their visitor walked into his study. "See, Arthur, at least SOMEONE appreciates my talents." He stood up, pulling the Alpha into a tight hug. The two had known each other since they were in college, with Claudia on a study abroad trip in England and Merlin was a professor for Medieval Mythological Literature. They had discovered rather quickly that the other also belonged to the supernatural realm.

"If your head got any bigger, we would need to get a new house for how much space your ears take up." Arthur sneered, crossing his arms.

"Prat." Merlin stuck his tongue out at him, and a giggle filled the room. The blue eyed sorcerer turned his head down to the source of the noise.

"And who would this be?" Merlin asked , bending down to see the young giggling boy who was holding on to his mother's p legs. The sorcerer waved at him and Stiles waved back, giving him a toothy smile.

"My name is Genim." The young werefox said shyly. Claudia wanted to laugh at the timidity that Genim was showing . He was never like this with other people, but Claudia knew the effect Merin could have on supernaturals who were affected by auras.

"I have a favor to ask of you." She said, and Merlin could tell the situation had just gotten intense, and she went back to his feet brushing off the dust that had gotten on his pants. He motioned for the Alpha to sit down in front of him.

"What's wrong, Claudia?" He asked, as he sat down behind his desk. Genim settled himself on his mother's lap, content to snuggle into the warmth she provided and the scent of him of home and safety.

"There's this new hunter in town. Her name is Kate Argent. She ... she was in my last town and I'm pretty sure she's after Genim and me. I think that with Genim's current level of control on his shift that it would be easier for him if we just turn his genes dormant."

"This is a pretty big deal." Merlin said slowly. "And I can't begin to understand what it feels like to be hunted, but ... isn't this a little bit extreme?" Merlin shifted in his chair, rubbing the pad of his thumb on his upper lip. "Does John know about this?"

"No. He wouldn't agree with me. He would say that we should just move again, and I don't want to put that on him. We've moved enough as it is."

"Claudia, I've never done this type of spell before."

Claudia leaned forward, grasping his hand in hers, squeezing it.

"I'm sorry that I'm putting this on you, but I just... I don't know who else to turn to. I just want Genim to be safe and alive."

"You understand that this type of spell is something that lasts quite a bit of time, right? Like this won't go away in a few days or even weeks. It would have to be a few months or even years for it to wear off."

"I know."

Merlin pursed his lips, looking at the young boy who had dozed off halfway through the their talk.

"There is a chance that he might never return to being a werefox. In fact, there's a very good chance that turning half of his genes dormant would cause him to die." Merlin said softly. Guilt filled Claudia but this was the only way.

"Emrys, I know that you wouldn't let that happen."

Arthur who had been observing the exchange put up some protest.

"Hey, that's not fair of your to put that on Merlin."

"No, it's fine." Merlin waved a hand in Arthur's direction. I just want to make sure that you are 100 percent sure that you want to do this."

"Emrys, this is the only way. We need to turn Genim human."


	8. Half Mate Grief

Claudia hadn't even gotten out of her car before Talia was running out, Derek close at her heels. The werewolf Alpha was breathing in deeply as she approached the car, and the Stilinski Alpha couldn't help the feeling of shame that rose in her. She knew that what they were smelling was the lack of were on Genim. Her fox had almost come out in its panic when Merlin had managed to perform the spell to suppress Genim's werefox genes. Even now she could feel a phantom pain as if her son was dead, despite the obvious evidence that he wasn't.

"What's wrong with Genim?" Derek demanded, tearing open the car door and crawling into the space, curling himself around the young boy, his nose running up and down the nape of his neck. "Why does he smell weird?" There was a whine to his voice, so animalistic in its pain that it made Claudia wince. The young Stilinski wrapped his arms hesitantly around Derek, but he didn't nuzzle back like he usually would, although he did make comforting cooing noises. The Alpha werewolf looked at Claudia with a horrified look on her face as it clicked.

"Derek, please take Genim inside to your room. Alpha Stilinski and I need to talk." Talia's voice wavered as she sent a side look to the young boy who was looked confused as to all the worry evident on people's faces. Her son nodded, unbuckling Genim and taking him to the house.

Claudia couldn't even get out of her car. On the way to the Hale House, she had rehearsed what she was going to say, but it all escaped her now. All the careful explanations and reasonable justifications were so jumbled up now. Talia went around the car and slid into the passenger seat, waiting until Derek had closed the door behind himself that she turned to Claudia, hand on her arm.

"Who did it?" Talia growled, her red eyes flashing. "What kind of messed up witch took away Genim's fox? Why didn't you call or send John?"

"John doesn't know." Claudia looked away from the inquisitive look the other Alpha was giving her.

"How could he not know?!"

"I haven't told him." With this, she slumped forward, leaning her head against the wheel of the car. "There's a new hunter in town."

Talia snarled, clenching her fist.

"A hunter did this to you?"

"No, Talia, listen." Claudia snapped angrily. "I did it. I had a friend of mine who is a sorcerer perform the spell on Genim." At the following silence, she barged on. "There's a new hunter in town who was in the same town we were in before we moved here. She's ruthless, Talia. She managed to convince the other hunters to abandon the code, telling them that we were animals, and I just... I don't want my son to die. This is the only way I could think that he be safe."

"Claudia, you took away a vital part of Genim." Talia seethed, her anger now directed to the other mother. "That is so wrong. How could that be the only way to keep him safe? What about us, Claudia? The Hale Pack?! We're one of the strongest packs of North America and you thought we couldn't protect Genim? He's part of our pack, Claudia. We would've died protecting him."

All the pent up grief and anger finally burst free and Claudia covered her face as she began crying.

"But I didn't want you to. This is the safest thing to do, Talia. This way no one gets hurt. No one had to get hurt-"

"But someone did get hurt." The werewolf's voice chilled. "In fact, two people got hurt during this. God, Claudia, did you even think to ask someone about what that spell entails?"

"I know that it'll take a long time for it to wear away-"

"His fox died, Claudia." Talia shook her head. "You've probably been feeling like your son has died? It's because when you do this spell, it turns the genes dormant yes, but it also completely does away with his fox. It's...it's the only spell that can revert a were back into human. We will never know what it's like to not have our were side in us because we were born weres, but humans are a completely different story. The second a human is turned, it's like their were is born. However to be able to have a were inside you, the genes need to be active. This is why there's always a fifty fifty chance of a human surviving the bite. Genim's were side needed the now dormant genes to survive."

"But...but he seemed fine. He didn't even cry."

"Well, then you better thank whoever it was that performed this spell for you, because most people die from it." Talia looked towards the house with a sad look on her face. "The worst part in all this is that Genim will start to notice the little signs that his fox is missing when he can't feel the pack bond anymore." There was an edge there, pointed in its accusation of Claudia.

"I don't regret doing it." Claudia said defensively. "I want my son to be safe."

"I will never condone this, Alpha Stilinski." Talia replied curtly and the other flinched at the title. "I believe that what you did was wrong, but I also understand that it's your choice. However as I said, you hurt two people in this. The grief you're feeling for your lost son is the grief Derek's werewolf is going through for his lost mate."

Claudia blinked in surprise then her mouth fell open in horror at what Talia had just said.

"But Genim is still his mate."

"Yes." Talia pursed her lips as she turned away from the werefox's wide eyes. "But Derek's werewolf will still feel the grief of losing half of his mate."

Almost on cue, the front door slammed open, revealing a furious Peter who was stalking towards the car where the two Alphas were sitting in. He ripped open the driver's door, leaning down with a growl, his eyes shining blue as his fangs dropped. Talia felt a sense of pity for her older brother. In all of his life, he had never been interested in children. The only reason he probably tolerated her children was because they were family. So when Genim had befriended with bright golden eyes and huge smiles, totally unafraid of the dark aura Peter usually gave off...well, it was no surprise that Peter's walls went tumbling down. It had come to the point where Peter's wolf had recognized Genim as his own son, something Talia always took advantage of rubbing in his face.

Now though- now it was breaking her heart, because she hadn't even considered the pain Peter must be going through. Her brother tore open the driver's door, making Claudia's heartbeat skyrocket.

"Who did this?" Peter snarled, cutting his lip on the sharp edge of one fang. "Tell me, Claudia, and I'll go rip their fucking throat out. Who fucking does this to a child?" The werefox glanced desperately to Talia who simply averted her eyes away, leaving her alone to face Peter. The beta seemed to have the caught the exchange and understood the implication if the sudden screech of metal bending was any indication.

"No." Peter said, shaking his head. "Claudia, tell me you didn't." The werefox only looked down ashamed. The other seemed to want to drag the mother out of the car, but just as it looked like he was going to roar out of anger, his face completely shut down.

Claudia didn't know what was worse. His vicious anger or the cold look that he sent her. A silence followed, none of them moving from their spot or saying anything. It was a broken with Peter's chuckle.

"I was right." He said, almost as if to himself. "You were going to be a liability."

"Stop being so dramatic, Peter." Talia said, rolling her eyes, but even as she said it, there was a similar grief in her voice. "Genim is still part of this pack...even if he doesn't feel it." This was pointed to Claudia who fought her instinct to wince. She wasn't some child that as being scolded by her mother. Her decision was one that was sound.

With that, the three of them got out of the car and went back to the house.

Genim and Derek were sitting on the couch, watching some new TV show about a pink haired girl, but when the adults walked in, the golden eyed boy approached Peter who was looking down at him with a pinched expression, something that the younger one seemed to pick up on.

"Hurt, Peter?" the young boy asked, grabbing Peter's hand and pulling him down. Despite the lack of expression on the werewolf's face, everyone could smell the grief that came off of him as he got closer. The lack of werefox scent became more obvious the closer one got to him, knowledge that Claudia had become intimately aware of.

But what made everyone freeze was when Genim wrapped his arms around Peter's' neck after being tugged down. The young boy tucked his face into Peter's neck, but after a few seconds moved again, taking in deep breaths.

"Geni-" Claudia began to say, knowing where this was going.

"Peter?" Genim asked, frowning as he drew back. He closed his eyes and drew a long breath through his nose. He looked up at his mom worried. "Mommy, I can't smell Peter." The pained choke that came from the beta werewolf made the Alpha werefox's eyes drift to the source. Peter's eyes were brimmed with tears, tell tale splotches of red beginning to form on his cheeks which he covered up with a hand across his mouth. The werewolf turned on his heel and left.

Claudia was left with a confused Genim who was quickly taken back by Derek and a silent, brooding Talia.


	9. Foxbane and Promises

After that, everything had settled into a somewhat normal pace again. Genim still went to visit the Hales everyday, and after a talk of how he wasn't a werefox anymore, settled into the life of being a human. Claudia felt calm, knowing that her small pack was safe. Then, of course, her luck ran out, and an article in the newspaper reawakened her fears.

FAMILY OF FOUR KILLED IN MYSTERIOUS HOME INVASION

 _A housekeeper's shocking Monday morning discovery of four bodies – a small-town Beacon Hills bakery owner, Alan Budding, his wife, Jamie, and their teenage daughter and son, Julie and James, all dead in their upper middle-class home – have risen suspicion of authorities to believe there was personal intent behind the murder. Authorities are asking for anyone who knows anything…_

Claudia had known the Buddings; they were one of the other smaller werewolf packs protected under the Hale Pack, but only the father had been a werewolf, which meant that Kate...Kate was killing humans too. The Alpha stood to her feet angrily. After everything she had gone through to keep her son safe... she put down the newspaper, letting the corners that she had wrinkled fall to the table.

If just being associated with were creatures was enough to cause Kate to kill, then Stiles wasn't safe. He wasn't safe at all. Claudia had to go talk to Talia about this...but not right now, in plain daylight. No, she would have to wait until night fell. She could no longer be seen with the Hales if she wanted her small pack to be safe. With that, Claudia tore up the newspaper, throwing away the remains in the trashcan.

After she had put Genim in bed, she shifted into her fox form, slipping out of the house, hidden underneath the shadows cast by the half moon. She cut through the background and climber over the fence into the forest that held the Hale House. Perhaps it was because her thoughts were so full of worry for Genim and the dead family that had lived on their block that distracted Claudia from hearing the soft footsteps that followed her.

* * *

It was only when she was halfway to the Hale House that the sound of a fake bird chirp cut through her thoughts. Before she could make a run for it, the sound of a gun burst through the quiet of the the forest night, quickly followed by a sharp pain in her shoulder. She let out a yip as she scrambled to get away, but her path was blocked by white haired man she remembered seeing with Kate. She bared her teeth, letting out a vicious snarl, before lunging towards him.

He easily sidestepped, laughing.

"I would stop doing that if I were you. Fighting makes your heartbeat go up, which makes the foxbane poison spread faster. Oh, wait, nevermind. Let's speed this up." Gerard sneered, looking down his nose at her. She froze at his words, realizing that she was feeling unnaturally pained and tired. "I can't believe that vermin like you still exist." He went to kick her, but she snapped her teeth at him before taking off in the direction of the Hale House, letting out a desperate yowl. Her vocal cords strained at the sound, not used to having to make such wolfy noises, but at this point, she had to do whatever it takes.

"After her, people." She heard Gerard say behind her and on cue, two sets of footsteps began trailing after her. With every step she took, she could feel the poison beginning to affect her body. Her vision was getting hazy. Then just as she was about to give up hope, she heard a long telling howl.

"Shit," Gerard swore. "Take the bullet out and let's go. She's going to die anyway. Come on, Chris, Kate."

A pair of hands grabbed her and she snarled, snapping her teeth. Then her entire body shook as the sharp pain travelled where the bullet had hit her.

As the hunters ran away, Claudia collapsed on the ground, her paws shaking as she panted.

"Claudia!"

She turned her head towards the source of the front of her was Alpha Hale's wife, Alana, in beta shift, eyes shining with concern. It was at this moment that Claudia let herself fall into the darkness that had been surrounding her until now.

* * *

The first thing Claudia heard as she came to was the sound of Merlin's voice talking softly to someone.

"I did as much as I could, but there was only so much I could do. The bullet had fragmented! I can't do anything with shards of the bullet. And a full body cleansing requires more than what I have on hand. I don't have that kind of power, Alpha Hale." His voice was hard set like if this wasn't the first time he had made this point.

"Then go and find the things you need." Talia's voice replied.

"Talia, don't be so hard on him. He's done the best he can." Alana's voice said comfortingly.

"She'll barely be able to survive like this! She was born a were, her fox is something she's always had. Denying a were their other side is inhumane, Alana!"

"Her brain would deteriorate at a faster rate if she was in her animal state." Merlin said, his words were cut off as he noticed that Claudia had opened her eyes and was looking at the two of them with worried eyes. Talia turned on her heel, catching Merlin's expression.

"Claudia," the Alpha werewolf sighed, her voice tired.

"What are you two talking about?"

Her two friends looked at each other before focusing their attention on her again.

"You were shot with a foxbane bullet." Merlin said softly, moving to sit next to the bed she was on. "And since they took it out, we couldn't heal you the way we usually would. The only way I could keep you from dying was to force you to transition back into a complete human and put a magical block on any transformation." At Claudia's horrified expression, he hurried to continue. "I can take it off, but since you were kept trying to shift back, I had to do something. I've managed to partially heal you, but….it can only do so much."

"What does that include?" Claudia whispered.

"It's not going to kill you immediately." Merlin said, his eyes looking sad and older than his age. "I don't know how long it can last, but I would say two...maybe three years before it finally takes full effect. But the incantation I put on you only works if you stay in complete human form. If you even go into beta mode, the foxbane would use the were genes to slip past the defenses I put in place." Tears were falling down his face explained and he kept taking shaky breaths as he wiped them away.

Claudia blinked, lifting a shaking hand to her mouth as her eyes began to water and blur her vision. On her other side, Talia and Alana were standing next to the bed.

"I deeply apologize, Claudia." Talia said. "I should have… I had promised you protection and safety from the hunters, but you are hurt a-and dying. If there is _anything_ I can do, please let me rectify the situation."

Claudia paused then looked down, overwhelmed by everything that was happening. She fisted her hands in her lap and said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I had been on my way to talk to you about the Buddings. I think that there should be more distance between our packs." Claudia stated resolutely. "They killed humans in their pack just because they were associated with weres."

Talia reared back as if struck.

"The last thing I'm going to do is put _more_ distance between our packs!" Talia said with a hurt expression on her face. "We need to protect Stiles."

"No!" Claudia tried getting up from her reclined position but let out a hiss of pain. "I want you to stop associating with Stiles! I managed to make him human but if the Argents are killing even humans, then Stiles STILL isn't safe. I want you to take away your pack's memories of my son."

Talia was about to argue but her wife, Alana, placed a hand on her arm.

"She's right, Talia." Alana said. The Hale Alpha looked overwhelmed.

"Please, consider this my dying wish." And that drove the nail home with a slump of Talia's shoulders.

"I'll grant you this. As the Hale Pack Alpha, I swear to fulfill your request." She rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. Claudia relaxed and leaned back against the pillows of the bed.

"How will that work with Stiles and Derek?" Merlin asked. The three women looked at him in confusion. "Well, if they're mates, wouldn't Derek's instincts be a wreck?" The Stilinski Alpha looked down, unaware of the scent of grief, growing in the room.


	10. Best Left Unremembered

"That's horrible." Derek couldn't help the revulsion he felt directed towards the former Alpha Stilinksi. No amount of reasoning could justify what she did to his mate. Thinking back he could see now why his wolf was always so temperamental compared to his siblings. After being exposed to his mate for so long and to have it suddenly ripped away, it was no wonder that his wolf had felt so lost when he was younger. Perhaps it was also the reason he always got in trouble in his teen years too. Going to the police station had always felt a little too much like going home.

"I know." Peter sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Halfway through his story, he had relocated to one of the porch armchairs. His wolf had been shifting restlessly since he read in his own handwriting the atrocity that his son, because Stiles was his son even if they weren't related by blood. "And we haven't even gotten to the worst part, Derek. It gets worse."

"I don't see how it get worse, Peter. Stiles has had his fox suppressed for years, all because his mom had a freaking paranoid attack basically." Derek growled, tilting his head towards the window where they could see the pack sleeping with Stiles, gathered around him in a weird combination of misplaced limbs and drooping slobber. Seeing Stiles cuddle into Scott was something that made his heart lurch now that he knew what Stiles had gone through. This was something that his Stiles had missed out on- something that as a were, he should never have had to miss out on. He didn't know what it was like to be part of a pack that loved him and would protect him with their last breath. HIS pack wouldn't have ever even considered hiding his werefox self, no matter the danger.

"I need a break." Derek rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This... is too much for me to handle right now. Is there anything you found out that could help us figure out how to turn him back?"

"No, it only talks about him being a werefox, and us getting our memories getting taken away. I think you need to hear the rest, but it's not anything really useful." Peter sniffed as he crossed his legs and turned his face towards the forest in front of them. The moon was almost directly above them which meant it was almost the middle of the night.

"Goodnight, Peter." Derek went back into the house. This cleared up a bunch of things, like why Peter was so overprotective of the young werefox, but at the same time, it didn't answer any questions at all. Like if Stiles was at this age, why didn't he remember being in Hale Pack? Derek felt a headache coming on and he checked his phone as he went in the door. 12:02 AM. God, he was exhausted. Dealing with overactive hyper Stiles made him respect the sheriff so much more that he almost regretted all the trouble he caused in his teen years.

The Alpha froze as he suddenly heard whimpers coming from living room where the pack had settled down, and he strode in, seeing his young mate shifting around restlessly. Just laying a hand on Stiles' head was enough to calm the young werefox but he could still see the tears on his eyelashes which made Derek's wolf whine.

He yawned as he climbed into the pack cuddling fest and hugged Stiles close to himself, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

The sound of a despaired wail made the entire pack startle into of alertness. Erica accidentally kneed Isaac in the shin on her way to her feet and Boyd faceplanted onto the floor. Derek narrowly avoided getting the wind knocked out of him by dodging Scott's hand, but his eyes blinked toward the source of the sound.

Stiles was wound up in a tight ball, arms wrapped around his knees with his back against the couch, hiding his sobs from the pack. But the thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that he had _grown._ His limbs had grown out and his hair had gotten shorter, into the buzzcut that they now knew him by, and Derek sighed in relief as he saw a pair of fox ears still on his head.

"Stiles, what's wrong?" Derek frowned, placing a hand on the young boy's arm, and the other violently flinched away from him even as he struggled to breathe. Derek stared as he saw that Stiles was having a panic attack and before he could recover, Scott was there, murmuring instructions to him.

"Come on, Stiles. Take a deep breath for me, yeah?" The beta said softly. "I'm going to count and I need you to breathe in as I do, okay?" He pushed a hand on Stiles back to straighten him out and the young boy gasped in a breath, desperately holding onto Scott's shirt. "Again, I know you can do it, Stiles. You're safe here. There's no danger and everyone here is alive and healthy." Together they breathed in and out until all that was left was a tear streaked Stiles looking at Derek with the most betrayed look on his face.

"Stiles, do you remember who we are?" Scott asked, taking the initiative to lead the questions. It was obvious to everyone that their little bright eyed werefox had turned into a less innocent preteen.

"Yeah, I remember being a little kid and meeting you guys." Stiles said, rubbing a hand across his face.

"What else do you remember?"

"You guys are freaking liars." Stiles' voice hitched as he said this as a new wave of tears came round. He didn't have another panic attack as he began sobbing. "My mom isn't alive. S-She's dead." Scott let out a hurt sound as he pulled Stiles into his arms, hugging him tightly to him.

"I HATE YOU. I HATE ALL OF YOU! YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD ME MY MOM WAS DEAD!" Stiles yelled into Scott's shirt, crying and hitting the werewolf's chest. The only thing Scott did was rock the boy as he bawled into his shirt, making comforting noises. "My mom's dead, she's dead, and I loved her so much. I saw her die! She was i-in front of me when she stopped breathing."

Derek swallowed the lump in his throat as he turned his face away from Stiles and took out his phone, speed dialing the sheriff.

"What's wrong?"

"Stiles remembers."


	11. Love and Lies

"How old would you say you are?" Derek asked softly, approaching the pair although Stiles looked more like he didn't want to be anywhere near Derek.

"I'm 12." Stiles said briskly. "I can't believe that I would ever forget my mom... dying." His voice broke at the mention of his mom, but he was all cried out from the last sob fest. The stench of grief filled the room, making it hard to breathe. The whole pack was gathered around the them, wishing they could offer him some comfort, even if the young werefox couldn't exactly remember them.

"Well, I'm guessing that you want your dad now?"

"Yeah, I want my dad." Stiles bit out. He gave a glance around the group. "I don't who you guys are. I mean, I remember from when I was a baby, but it's not the same. I don't really know who you guys are, and my dad always talks about stranger danger." He turned to Scott who looked pained, and Stiles threw his arms around Scott's neck, hugging him tight which seemed to soothe the werewolf. It made Derek's wolf simultaneously anxious and angry, because it wasn't fair that Scott was given such trusting gesture when Derek wasn't allowed to.

"Do… do you still live with your sucky dad?" the young werefox asked, leaning back from the embrace. "Is your mom still living with him?" The worry in his tone was audible to anyone in the room, even as the preteen tried to whisper it. There was a moment where Scott only looked at him before he drew him back into a hug.

"No, we don't live with Rafael anymore." There was a wetness to his words, like if he was trying not to cry. "You helped us to get away from him. He wasn't a very good man."

"That's good." Stiles smiled. "That's great. I never thought your dad was a good person, so it's good that you and your mom don't live there anymore."

"What else do you remember?" Derek asked, frowning, thinking back to what Peter had told him last night. Why wasn't Stiles remembering that they had met before? It didn't make any sense. The memory charms were only supposed to have been put on the Hales, something that Derek couldn't help but think bitterly about.

"I don't know. What do you want from me? Get off my back, man." Stiles growled at Derek, one of his fangs flashing.

"Hey, why are you being so mean to Derek?" Scott asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"He lied to me. He said that he loves me, but he didn't tell me about my mom." Stiles said angrily, his ears twitching agitatedly on his head. The stench of pain started emanating from the Alpha who kept a passive look on his face.

"Well, that was no thing to tell a child." Derek sneered, hiding how hurt he felt at the werefox's words. Although his tone was rather cold, Derek felt that he was within his rights to be hurt. The reaction from Stiles was a jerk of the head and trembling lips.

"Well, you know what?" Stiles shouted, pushing away from Scott and moving towards the door of the living room. "Fuck you!" Then with a burst of speed, he ran out of the room. The sound of the front of door slamming set the pack in motion, scrambling after the emotional twelve year old.

The entire pack ran through the forest, but it seemed that Stiles' previously dormant werefox abilities had given him the boost he needed to evade werewolves. Although Derek suspected that his were being a fox had something to do with the fact that he was managing to avoid an entire pack of werewolves. That or their failure to capture past monsters made a lot more sense. The Alpha made a note in the back of his head to re-continue the training session they used to have.

"I liked him better when he was a kid." Jackson muttered as they followed the sound of the hummingbird heart through the forest. "At least then he was cute and didn't throw tantrums like this."

"You're 19 and still throw tantrums like that." Scott growled at him. The sound of police sirens cut through the sound of the forest, and Stiles seemed to have heard it to because his feet changed the direction they were running, and he was suddenly going to the road that led to the Hale Mansion. Their hearts pounded and they ran faster as they collectively thought what could happen if Stiles ran out onto the road a little bit too quickly.

Derek almost tripped over himself when he heard squealing tires attempting to stop. There wasn't sounds of pain but the horror was still coursing through him. They got to the road and let out a sigh of relief when they saw Stiles desperately hugging his dad who looked like he was about to cry himself.

"Dad," Stiles repeated over and over, and John was rubbing circles in his back while hugging him back.

"It's okay, Stiles. It's okay."


	12. K's, Creeper Wolf, and Cup of Tea

_Earlier that day_

"I'm not sure though. It just seems really suspicious that a random werefox younger version of Stiles would pop up. And, everyone seems to just suddenly like him!" Allison hurried to explain, her hands outstretched before her in a pacifying gesture.

"No, you were good in bringing this to me." Gerard Argent smiled, giving her the docile grin that hid his inner thoughts. "The whole situation seems highly dangerous. There are many things that you can do with magic, Allison. You'd be surprised by the amount of deceit that goes on in the witchcraft community." He stood up from his chair, slowly, and approached the teen who was biting her lip. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"Now, you can't tell that pack about this, Allison. The little thing might conveniently vanish if he finds out we're investigating, and we can't have that." He smiled and the teen nodded convinced.

"I promise I won't tell."

With that, she walked away, unaware of the phone being picked up from the desk nearby. Gerard's finger scrolled down to the K's. This was the moment they had been waiting for.

 _Later that night_

The Sheriff pulled his vacation time and took Stiles home with him. The young werefox wouldn't even look at Derek, which made him both seethe in anger and ache from the pain. Scott was the only pack member that Stiles felt comfortable with, which was obvious from the way he would grip his arm, or the way his ears would relax from the tense flickers.

"Derek, I think we should come back tomorrow." Isaac said, placing a hand on the Alpha's shoulder. Derek's eyes stayed on the scene he was watching from outside the window of the Stilinski house. If normal aged Stiles were here, he would probably say something along the lines of him being a Creeper Wolf. The mere thought of Stiles left Derek sighing and he relented, letting Isaac draw him back towards the Camaro.

And if the two of the wolves hadn't been so wrapped up in their scent cloying feelings, they might have noticed the out of place minivan with a scent Derek was all too familiar with.

The house in front of him looked like it had gone through seem recent renovations, although it's foundation still screamed of its history and power and the tragedy that had befallen it. Merlin squeezed his husband's hand who was looking at him with a tilt to his head and concern in his eyes.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Arthur asked, looking up at the Hale Mansion with a look of distaste. "It looks nothing like what John could afford, unless he's no longer a police officer." Merlin's heart hurt a little, because he had failed Claudia in this way. He had never contacted her husband or even tried to meet the little boy whom he had taken away powers. It was too painful to endure. He felt like a coward, because instead of being strong like Claudia had been, he had run away to England. Away from the motherless child of his best friend.

"Yeah." Merlin croaked out. "This is where I feel Stiles' magical presence the most. The magical ban I had placed is gone." Before he had to muster up the strength to knock on the door, it swung open, revealing a young teenage girl.

"You're not the pizza man." She said with a pout.

"No. We are not." Arthur sent Merlin a confused look. "We're looking for someone, and we think he might live here. His name is Genim Stilinski."

"Oh, I'm sorry you have the wrong house. The only person that lives here is Derek Hale and some of his friends. My name's Erica, by the way." She grinned, leaning against the doorframe.

"Don't lie to me." Merlin snapped. "I know that Genim was here. It is vital that I see him." The swift change from sweet teenager to sneering werewolf was disconcerting to see.

"I would suggest you get off of Hale property." Erica snarled, looking away to examine her claws. "It would be horrible for something to happen." She flashed her golden eyes. Merlin felt all the anxiety rise up in the form of anger and he began moving forward into the house.

"What are you doing to Genim?" He drew back his lip, his eyes flashing gold as he pushed her against the wall with magic. She looked at him with a mixture of fear and anger, and before she said anything, Merlin was barreled down to the ground.

A black teenager held his forearm to Merlin's neck and the wizard sent him flying across the room. Arthur stood by his side, his gun aimed and ready to shoot, but before any of the people in the room, tense and ready for a fight made any move, the front door opened and in walked Derek Hale.

"Derek." Merlin breathed, his eyes lighting up in recognition. This had been Stiles' mate. "You need to take me to Genim."

"Who are you?" Derek frowned. "What are you doing in my house?"

Merlin wanted to flip a table. Of course, the one person from back then wouldn't remember him.

"This would be Merlin from the journals."

Everyone turned to look up at the voice to see Peter Hale, sliding down the handrail of the stairs before smoothly jumping off and approaching the new guests. He gave them a smirking smile and held out his hand to which Merlin took.

"Peter, it's good to see you." Merlin smiled relieved. "How did you get your memories back?"

"I wrote a lot." Peter shrugged before turning to the confused pack members. "Pack, this is Emrys Pendragon, the most powerful wizard of our, and most likely all, time. He was the one that suppressed Stiles' werefox genes the first time around." Merlin flinched. 

"I'm looking for him. I felt the magical suppressants come off, and I needed to make sure that he's alright." the wizard said. "I can't imagine what it's like suddenly turning into a werefox after what 18 years of being human."

"If only it were that easy…" Peter sighed, wrapping an arm around Merlin's shoulders. "Let's grab a cup of tea, because this is going to take a while."


	13. Please Don't Take My Sonshine Away

"That doesn't make any sense." Merlin spat out angrily. "If he had reverted back to his younger self, then the memories should have been there with the body." He ran a hand through his hair with an annoyed huff. "I only made his genes dormant. The only other person who could've taken away his memories was Claudia, although I find that hard to believe because she was so weak at the time."

"I know it doesn't make sense." Peter said smugly. "That's why I asked you to sit down and wait for me to finish the story. Luckily, enough my past self decided to write everything down. Or at least everything I could. I remember that you were there when Claudia asked my sister to take away the pack's memories of Stiles. Thankfully she didn't take away the memories completely, only suppressing the memories into the back of our minds. However, the day she took our memories… well, it was also the day Stiles last stepped foot into an unscathed Hale House."

* * *

 _The grip Talia had on the wheel was causing it to squeak in protest. After saying her goodbyes to Claudia, the only thing that was going through her mind was how Claudia could be so heartless. That boy was as much hers as it was Claudia's, a-and it wasn't fair that she was taking him from her. Tears gathered on the sides of her eyes and she swerved off the road, angrily parking on the side of the road._

 _"It's not fair!" Talia yelled, punching the steering wheel with her fist, screaming with her hands. "She has no right!" Her claws were coming out, leaving thin angry lines on the side of her face. She couldn't deny Claudia her dying wish, but it wasn't fucking fair that Genim had to suffer too. Sorrow made her throat grow tight but she didn't let a sob past her mouth. With a few shuddering breaths, she recollected herself, wiping her face, and she pulled back on to the road. Alpha meant being the rock for her family, which is exactly what they would need before going through something like this._

 _When she got home, Talia was meant with an unusual silence, and she stalked over to the table where there was note on the table._

 _**Went with the kids to watch a movie. We'll be back later tonight. Genim wanted to stay with Peter.**_

 ** _-Alana_**

 _She smiled sadly at her wife's handwriting. Distantly, she heard the sound of Genim's laughter in the backyard and she slowly made her way through the house towards the sound. Her footsteps were soft and slow, like if that would change the end result- change the fact that in 24 hours, her pack wouldn't recognize Genim. The fact that the werefoxes had only been in their lives for a short amount of time and were already leaving weighed heavy in Talia's mind. Although life is full of changes, there are some things that should remain stagnant. Unchanged by time's almost vengeful path._

 _The door to the backyard was already perched open, which on any other day would have her chewing out whoever left it open, but the sight beyond it and the weight in her heart kept her mouth shut as she watched Genim leap from the swing set into her brother's arms. Peter dramatically fell to the floor, while keeping the young werefox safe on top of him._

 _"You're getting heavier every day, Genim!" Peter groaned, rubbing his chest with fake pain. Giggles followed._

 _"Maybe you're just getting old." Genim teased, pushing Peter's face as he messed up his hair. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"_

 _"I'll have you know I take great offense to that!" Peter sniffed as he tickled Genim relentlessly causing a bubble of laughter to come from him. It felt like Talia was swallowing a rock. She stood there, staring at the scene in front of her, eyes flickering to not cry. The two began playing a form of chase, and in a sideglance, the boy had seen her and skidded to a stop._

 _"Alpha Hale!" Genim had seen her and was walking towards her. "Is my mommy okay? Alana said she was hurt by some bad people." His eyes were wide and worried._

 _"She's fine now, Genim." She smiled and he returned it._

 _"Awesome!" He smiled. Peter was looking at her with a strange look in his eyes; he always knew when something wasn't right. She motioned him to back away from them, and Genim, the brilliant child that he was, also caught this and titled his head at her, his ears flickering up and down._

 _"Yes, Genim, that is good. However, I'm afraid that this is going to be the last time we'll get to talk to each other." Talia knelt down next to him and he reared back._

 _"What?"_

 _"My family is doing a secret mission. We have some important stuff we need to do, and we don't want you to get hurt. So your family and my family cannot talk to each other or the mission will be compromised, like in the movies you like to watch with Derek, remember?" Talia laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to emanate calming waves. In the corner of her eye, she saw Peter shifting restlessly as he looked at her in confusion._

 _"When will the mission be over?"_

 _"We think it will take a long time, Genim."_

 _The young boy looked conflicted._

 _"But…but I thought I was pack. Doesn't pack stick together?"_

 _"Yes, Genim, but pack also protects each other." Talia said. "Starting tomorrow, we have to pretend we don't know you so the bad guys don't hurt you. Does that make sense, Genim?" He sighed, looking contemplative._

 _"I think so… but I don't like it. Can I come over at night when all the bad guys are asleep?"_

 _"I'm afraid not."_

 _"What about Derek? Does he have to ignore me too? I don't think I would like him ignoring me." He pouted._

 _"Everyone whose last name is Hale has to do this." Talia cupped his face in her hand and he nuzzled into it even as his scent grew more and more bitter._

 _"Well, what if I don't want to leave you guys? Can I change my name too? Why can't my family be part of the mission?"_

 _"Because it's not possible." The resolution in her voice made him flinch. "Why don't you go inside and watch some TV for a little bit? I need to talk to Peter." Genim straightened._

 _"Does Peter have to do it too?"_

 _Talia's eyes betrayed her, and she looked up at said person who looked as equally interested in the answer. Without taking her eyes off of him, Talia said, "Yes."_

 _Genim nodded, looking down and he slid past Talia towards the living room._

 _The second the TV turned on, Peter stalked towards her, growling._

 _"Care to explain what secret mission I've been voluntold into?" His eyes looked both betrayed and furious at the same time, and she stared back unflinchingly._

 _"Claudia is dying. Because of my failure to protect her as I had promised to do, she has asked that I take away the pack's memories of Genim to protect him from a hunter that has been following her since her old town. I had no choice."_

 _"Yes, you do!" Peter whisper yelled. "Is this the supposed justice and fair system that you've wanted to implement for the supernatural? This isn't what I submitted to. I submitted to an Alpha who had the balls to go against what was wrong. First, that woman took away Genim's fox. Now she wants to take away his pack?"_

 _"She's his mother."_

 _"Screw that." Peter snarled. "What she's doing isn't sane! You letting her do this to Genim is horrific. Are we just going to let all supernatural creatures do dangerous rituals to take away their magical selves? Is it something we should be ashamed of?"_

 _"Of course not." Talia bit back. "But it's not our choice. He's a child and his parents are in charge of that. He's our pack, but he's not ours, Peter."_

 _Peter turned his face away, hand covering his eyes even though she could smell the pain emanating from him._

 _"Peter…" Talia began to say._

 _"He's mine." His voice wobbled here. "A-and I won't let her take him away from me. Not again. She's already taken half of him away, and I won't let her take away the rest." His lips were trembling minutely. She let the silence hang between them for a moment and as she was going to say something, he beat her to it. "He's like my pup, Talia. You can't take him away."_

 _The shine in his eyes was something new to Talia and she didn't know what to do with it. In the past, their arguments had always involved dry anger, that circled in shouts and accusations. She had never seen this wet anger that seemed more genuine, more affected, heavy with shaky breaths and barely concealed snarls. The last time she had seen this kind of anger in Peter had been a passing moment when they separated from their parents' pack._

 _"But Genim is_ actually _Claudia's pup." And in that moment, the open window Peter's eyes had been, showing himself vulnerable without the barbed wire he enwrapped himself with fell shut, leaving only a set of angry blank eyes. It was more familiar to her, but after seeing the other side of Peter, it was also more painful._

 _"I won't let you." Peter said, lifting his chin in defiance, his eyes burning. She could see all the different plans formulating in the back of his mind, ranging from talking to Claudia out of it to kidnapping Genim. She had to put a stop to it before he did something that she couldn't fix._

 _"Peter Hale, I order you to stand down and allow your memories to be altered for the good of the pack. If you go against these orders, you will be banished from the pack immediately." Talia's eyes glowed Alpha Red, enforcing the command and there was small moment, where Peter's eyes, bright blue, struggled to continue meeting hers even though his wolf was instinctively trying to submit and Talia worried that Peter was going to be kicked out of the pack. Peter seemed to realize that he wasn't strong enough to be an Omega werewolf and he tilted his head, gaze shifting to her shoulder._

 _"I will never forgive you for this." Peter spat, shoving past her and going to Genim._

 _"Me neither." Talia said, looking at the swing that was still swaying._

 _Later, John picked up Stiles. Talia pulled John aside and explained to the Deputy Sheriff what Claudia had asked of her, and he reluctantly agreed with his wife. He had already gone to visit her in the hospital and Talia could tell by the smell of dried tears on his cheek. It didn't shock her that he didn't seem horrified by Genim' change from werefox to human, because John was human. He didn't truly understand what it meant to be a were._

 _When it came to say goodbye, the young boy clung to Peter, crying as he said, "See you later. Please finish your mission soon." Peter hugged him tighter before letting them to drive off. Talia led him inside and sat him down._

 _"Do we have to do it right now?" Peter asked, looking straight at the wall._

 _"It's for the best." She said as her claws came out. As they went towards Peter's neck, he suddenly reached back and grabbed her by the wrist._

 _"Wait, instead of deleting the memories… can you just suppress them? Keep them so far back that they're like the daily motions we go through day by day. Keep them there, even if we don't remember them?"_

 _Talia stopped for a second and considered his request. Basically she would be doing what Claudia wanted, but this, and she couldn't help but to feel guilty about this, this would also give her pack a chance to remember someday after Kate Argent was dead. Someday in the future when Derek would somehow remeet the young Stilinski and recognize him for what he is._

 _"Yeah." Talia nodded, and Peter released the grip he had on her wrist_

 _Peter took a deep breath, and let his mind wander towards his memories with Genim. He could remember the first time Genim had seen him, hands up as he pouted to be lifted up. He remembered the time Genim had jumped on his face, breaking his nose, and when Peter told him that hurt, he apologized and put a pillow on Peter's face. Peter, thinking it was a band aid in the young one's mind, thanked him before yelling as Genim jumped again on his face. He remembered Genim's snoring face, snuggled underneath his arm, everytime the pack decided to watch Star Wars. Peter remembered Derek awkwardly trying to give Genim flowers, only for the young one to cry because Derek had killed the flowers. He remembered the Valentine's card Genim had given him, because "I love you lots". Claws pierced his neck._

 _He remembered…then he forgot._

* * *

"I would never forget." John huffed out a laugh, sliding a peanut butter and honey sandwich across the table to Stiles who looked at him like he had hung the moon. "You haven't changed that much, kid."

"Thanks, Dad-o." Stiles said as he bit into it, "Yum." As Stiles had a spiritual experience with the sandwich, John could only stare at the sight of his son's face, younger and smoother than before. Despite the yellow cast of light from the kitchen, there was still a spark in his eyes that had been away since the whole werewolf thing had come into play. Not that he couldn't see the effects of Claudia's death in the downturn of his lips or nervous lip bite, but for the most part, this was his son. The change made him want to take him away from this whole supernatural business. Something in the back of his mind repelled against the thought, making him feel uneasy.

"I love you, Stiles, you know that right?"

Stiles looked up at him.

"Of course, Dad. I love you too."

The Sheriff smiled as he leaned an elbow against the table. Stiles' ears flickered towards the door, and he tilted his head towards it.

"I think there's someone at the door."


	14. Interrogation, Tracking, and Horcruxes

"So if Talia took Genim's memories, that would explain why he doesn't remember anything, because even if he was at the age he knew you all, his being doesn't have the memories to bring forth." Merlin nodded, blinking in surprise as he leaned back in his seat. "What do werewolves do with the memories? Some creatures eat them, or store them and use them to power weapons, but I've never heard of werewolves doing that."

"It's not really something to be done with. It's just something we can do. And the memories can usually be restored if the claws of the Alpha that took them are still preserved." Derek cast a questioning glance at Peter who nodded at the silent question.

"Talia's claws are in the attic, in a locked box to which only the Hale Alpha can open." Peter finally let a smile out, and the room's atmosphere lifted.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go get Stiles and give him back his memories." Erica said, excitedly turning to Boyd who gave a glance to Derek. The Alpha was already putting on his leather jacket and grabbing his keys from the key holder. "Let's call Scott, and meet him at the Sheriff's house. He probably had his memories suppressed as well."

Merlin and Arthur watched them bustle around, getting ready to go when the door opened and a half-shifted Scott came through the door. The werewolf pushed Derek against the wall, letting out hate-filled snarls.

"I can't find Stiles." He growled around a mouthful of canines. "I left him at his dad's house so they could eat dinner together. But I called because I left my backpack there, and the Sheriff didn't answer, which was tipped me off, because he always answers his phone, and when I went to go see them, they weren't there. They weren't there, so where the fuck are they, Derek?"

The Alpha werewolf looked at him with equal concern and flipped them around, pinning Scott to that wall as his eyes flashed red.

"You lost them?" Derek said, his voice steely. "Even though you knew that you were the only pack member that Stiles trusts and would stay with, and you left them? Alone?" Scott blinked, his eyes fading back to normal.

"Wait, they're not with you?" Scott brought out his puppy eyes and Derek let him go. "Then… where are they?"

Peter knew that there wouldn't be anything that they could do from the house and grabbed the keys from Derek's clawed hands.

"Everyone, head to Genim's house and we'll go from there. If they are nearby, we'll be able to track them." Peter turned to Derek whose face held barely concealed worry. "And if something has happened to them, well, let's just say no one messes with family." The promise of murder bled into his words.

x-x

"This doesn't have to be difficult, Stiles." Gerard said with a placating voice, although the grim set of his mouth suggested otherwise. "Just tell me what you know about the Hale Pack and I can let your father go."

"You think that's gonna scare me, gramps?" Stiles hissed from the spot he was tied to. He was a vision to see with his eyes burning a bright gold and his ears pressed hard against his skulls. Peeks of canine teeth had begun to show as Stiles got angrier and angrier. They had beat his dad up and taken him to a separate room, and then they had tried to get him to tell them about Derek's pack. Sure he was angry at Derek but even if he had wanted to give them information, he definitely wouldn't now. Nobody messed with his dad and got what they wanted. "Screw you! There's been Marvel sidekicks scarier than you!"

Gerard's eyes darkened and he scowled at the young werefox in front of him,

"Listen here you little monster. Tell me what I want to know, or I'll beat it out of you." He took a menacing step forward and Stiles wanted to laugh because there was no way in hell that he would ever be scared by someone who looked like they could be the next face of a retirement home ad.

"How about you let my dad go and maybe I don't kill you, Santa Claus." Stiles retorted back. In the span of three seconds, Gerard had crossed the space between them and had his hand drawn back to slap Stiles, but the door behind them slammed open and some woman with blonde hair shoved her way between them, her back to Stiles.

Everything in Stiles purred at her scent, feeling almost dizzy with it. She smelled like Derek and something indescribably wonderful. He faintly registered what they were saying.

"Dad, don't do this. There's other ways! He's just a boy." The woman said, her hands spread out in front of her. "We don't have to tie him up and scare him." Gerard said something back to her angrily and Stiles' head started tilting forward before he knew it and he breathed in. He could trust her.

"Kate, get out of the way. Monsters like him can only be dealt with in the most violent sense so that their mutt side can realize who is the superior being." A dark threat colored his voice and soured the air in the room.

"Let me have a chance with him, Dad." Kate pleaded, turning her head to look Stiles in the eyes. There was something off about her, but her scent screamed comfort and security. Gerard started to say something but was cut off by Kate. "Please."

The old white haired man pursed his lips together in annoyance then turned on his heel, a bitter scent coming from him.

"Fine." He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. "Fine, Kate. You have one hour." He held up one finger tensely than pointed at her. Then, he took a few steps towards the door before suddenly turning on his heel and backhanding her, making Kate fall to the floor with one hand clutching her reddening cheek.

"Don't ever interrupt me again when I am interrogating." He said coldly before getting out of the room. Kate let out a sigh of relief then turned to Stiles.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked haltingly. "That looks like it hurt. It's red, oh man, you should put some ice on that. Why did you do that? Why do you smell like Derek?". His head feeling stuffy. The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise and then a scowl got on her face.

"Oh, Stiles, you don't remember me?" Kate internally smiled as she saw that the scent trick was working. Allison had told them that Stiles didn't remember anything, and that was all the information that the older Argent needed. That mixed in with a little bit of stolen scent from Derek, his supposed mate, and foxnip was all she needed to fool this monster that she was trustworthy. "We were friends before that pack turned you into a kid. Derek must've stolen my scent to try and fool you. That pack is a bunch of liars that like to kidnap kids to do… _bad things_ to them. I'm so lucky that I found out." Kate cupped the side of Stiles' face with a warm expression, and Stiles leaned into it.

"So Derek isn't my mate?" Stiles asked, anger growing in him. "I already knew he was a liar. He didn't tell my mom had died, you know? I knew there was something horrible and bad about him." Stiles scowled, angry tears threatening to spill over. "He's a horrible person." His fox whimpered as he said these words, but the rage rushing through him pushed the protests down.

"Derek has always been a liar. We actually used to be good friends, but then it t0urns out he wanted to kill me." Kate shook her head in mock disappointment. "I guess that makes alike, huh, Stiles?" She gave him a grin as she loosened the rope around his wrists a little, letting him move his wrists minutely. "I'm sorry that my dad took you and your dad. He just needs a little convincing that you aren't a monster. Not like Derek and his pack."

"What did they do to you?" Stiles asked, tilting his head. Kate's eyes darkened.

"Derek killed my sister in law, Victoria." Kate sighed, showing the typical signs of sadness. "But now I have a chance to stop them from doing anything like that again." She looked up at Stiles with hopeful eyes. "You just have to tell me how we can get to them inside the Hale House. You can help me make sure that the Hale Pack never hurts another family ever again. And that way I can prove to my dad that you and your father, the Sheriff, are good people." She squeezed his hand.

"I… I don't know." Stiles bit his lip. "Killing them seems like a really extreme thing to do. Can't we just put them in some kind of magical creatures prison or something like that?" Kate sighed, shaking her head.

"Nothing is strong enough to hold them back. You just have to trust me, Stiles." Kate said, smiling. "The Hale Pack has to be stopped before they try and take other children or kill other families. Come on, Stiles. We're friends. Do you trust me?"

Stiles took a breath, taking in the honest and comforting scent she was emanating, and nodded.

"I trust you." Kate saw her lies falling into place, the half-truths merging with his version of reality, and his golden eyes looked up at hers. She could barely suppress the victorious smile that wanted to show at his naivety. The pretty ones were always the easiest to fool. "I trust you, Kate."

x-x

Arthur is the first one to enter the house, but he is soon followed by the pack who are already separating themselves into different branches of a search party, with Derek heading up to Stiles' room, and everyone else taking different rooms. Arthur and Merlin follow behind, but Arthur's eyes are already following the trail of what had happened.

"They're not going to be in here." Arthur says loudly, so that all of the werewolves can hear from around the house. "The door was open when we got in here, and if the father of Genim is the sheriff, then he wouldn't leave his door open. There's also signs of struggle that you can see on the carpet which was shaped like if it was dragged along with something, like a body. They were taken by force and I would say knocked unconscious."

"Okay, Sherlock." Peter rolled his eyes. "Then tell us where he went." Arthur sent him an annoyed look.

"I don't know, but Merlin can cast a tracking spe-" Arthur began to say but was interrupted by Derek's voice from the stairwell.

"I know who took them." His voice was raw, which was uncommon for the usually stoic werewolf. His hands were trembling and his jaw was clenched, eyebrows furrowed. The betas all tensed but frowned when they saw that Derek was holding the blanket they had bought in their shopping spree. It seemed to be exactly the same, but when he brought it closer, Peter let out a vicious snarl.

"Kate Argent."

"She's still here?" Merlin's mouth dropped open, and a furious glint filled his eyes. "That's it." He drew his hand towards his chest, dragging it up quickly as a bright line appeared. His other hand pointed to the blanket and he drew his hands together before opening his left hand, palm up, while his eyes burned bright gold. The line snapped away from the blanket and began to make a trail out of the door.

"Merlin, calm down." Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder. "Rest assured that Kate Argent will not be alive after we find her but remain calm like you taught me." For a second, Merlin looked like he wanted to snap at Arthur but then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his eyes turning back to normal. When he opened his eyes, Arthur smiled, rubbing a hand on his shoulder before giving him a peck.

"I know someone who can help us." Peter was already pulling out his cellphone and dialing the phone. "You guys go ahead. I'll meet up with him then follow your trail. We won't be far behind." The pack nodded and were already out the door, Derek seeming to be in a state of hesitancy and desperation, making his movements mechanic as he went out of the door.

"I'll go with Arthur and Merlin. Erica, you can drive the Camaro." Derek threw the keys at her and she caught them with a vicious grin while the others looked momentarily put out.

Everyone got in their respective cars and Merlin expanded his magic to let the others see the line. When he sat down in the car however, he felt a strange sensation at the other end of the tracking spell. It wasn't like tracking spells in the past, because rather than feeling like it was encountering a foreign object, it felt more like it was melding with a part of himself. He poured a little more magic into the connection and gasped when he felt it feed back magic, so similar to his yet somewhat different, more innocent. That should be impossible, unless…. Unless something more had happened when he had performed the spell on Genim. His breath got caught and he turned in his seat to face Derek.

"Has Genim ever done anything magical?" Merlin demanded, his eyes wide and disbelieving. Derek frowned, lifting an eyebrow.

"He's a Spark."

"No, he can't be. He wasn't one when he was younger. I would've noticed—would've taken him on as an apprentice." Merlin put a hand to his forehead. He quickly shut his eyes and shoved himself into the connection, seeking out the other side. He was enveloped in the familiar feel of his own silver and blue magic, but there were definite streaks of gold that seemed to be entwined in his magic. Gold magic was were creature magic, which only meant that…

Merlin drew himself back into his body and held a hand to his mouth, struggling not to vomit.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked as he yanked the car to the side, parking the car and laying a hand on Merlin's shoulder. The wizard ran out of the car and threw up on the side of the road. Derek and Arthur both stepped out with different expressions of concern.

"Oh Camelot, I created a Horcrux." Merlin's voice was shaky. "When I made the tracking spell, it felt too similar to be a normal tracking spell, a-and when I explored it, I found my magic mixed with Stiles' were side. He's not a Spark, or rather not a natural born one. Oh god," Merlin held a trembling hand across his eyes. "Something must've gone wrong when I did the spell… his soul was so starved—deprived of half his soul, that my magic must've tried to seal it. I knew that spell was a bad idea, but I didn't know it was…was this bad." Arthur placed a hand on Merlin's back.

"So what does that mean?" Derek asked frowning.

"I don't know." Merlin looked up to meet Derek's eyes then turned his face away and began making his way to the car. "It means that Genim's being… his soul has been in torment for the his whole life, trying to recover his were side while cultivating his 'Spark' side to make up for it. I've never heard of something like this happening." Merlin grimaced, shaking his head. "I can't believe I did that to a child. A child, Arthur."

"We can solve it when we get Genim." Arthur tried to say but Merlin cut him off.

"I don't know if I can. It's been so long."

"We can figure this out later." Derek growled, "Right now, Stiles is in the hands of the person who killed my entire family. Someone is ruthless and manipulative and wouldn't hesitate to use or kill a child." The two British men looked back then nodded.

"Okay," Merlin cast his hand out, strengthening the golden line, "let's go save Genim."


End file.
